According to the statement by the Minister of Health of Georgia, Zurab Azarashvili, the deinstitutionalization of large-scale psychiatric institutions is underway, and facilities designed for 30-50 patients will be built throughout the country. The minister says the number of psychiatric beds needs to be at least doubled.
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“We actively started to quantify the psychiatric service providers across the country and created an action plan. We currently have about 1,500 beds in the country, although according to the recommendations of various groups and our international experts, this amount needs to be at least doubled. According to our policy, we can't have large facilities with 100, 200, and 300 patients crowded together. Therefore, we devised a plan for building smaller psychiatric institutions, which will be interspersed throughout the whole country,”- said the minister during his speech in the parliament.
According to Zurab Azarashvili, the first stage has already begun and in three to four months’ time, four new, small psychiatric facilities will be built in the village of Bediani of Tsalka municipality: “The situation was quite dire in the existing psychiatric hospital, it was one of the older ones. Nearby, four small psychiatric facilities are being built in the same area and the beneficiaries will be distributed there. The same will happen in other institutions throughout the country.”
According to the Minister of Health, the matter of constructing psychiatric institutions in Kakheti is still being discussed.
“There were two psychiatric projects in Kakheti. This project was in partnership with the Chinese. Unfortunately, there was no more active communication from their side since 2019, due to complications related to Covid. This year we renewed talks and the project will most likely commence, meaning two psychiatric hospitals will be built in Kakheti,” said the minister.
The Ministry of Health has named the rejuvenation of mental health services as one of the strategic priorities of the 2021-2030 activity plan.
