The case of unintentional hospitalization George Mazonakis A few days ago, she brought to light her issues again mental health in our country.
The dossier opened on the occasion of the hospitalization of singer George Mazonakis, who came after his relatives and then a prosecution, shows an issue of Greece concerning the mental health that, according to the data, is the lead in the European Union.
This is an issue that concerns thousands of citizens every year. However, in this case he emerged through the “gray” aspects of the personal story of an artist and his chronic conflict with his family faces.
Psychiatric hospitalizations without the consent of the patient (unintentional) hide a pathology of the health system: Greece has the highest rates of unintentional hospitalization in the European Union.
What do the numbers testify for infest hospitalization
According to official data from the Ministry of Health, over half of the psychiatric hospitalizations in our country are unintentional. The picture is revealing, as the forced, hospitalization of mentally ill citizens in Greece are the largest figures in all of Europe.
This is confirmed by a recent study prepared by the Regional Development and Mental Health Company (EPYSY) in collaboration with the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) and the Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH).
According to the data, in the two major urban centers, namely Attica and Thessaloniki, the percentages of people who are inadvertently admitted to psychiatric clinics are – in all hospitalizations mentally ill – twice as compared to Europe’s average, which is about 23%.
More specifically, they were identified by scientists:
- 57% unintentional hospitalizations in Attica on all hospital
- 53% in Thessaloniki
- 45% in Patras.
According to scientists who presented the study in the summer of 2023, in the context of the forum “Panagiotis Sakellaropoulos-Diangles of Social Psychiatry and Mental Health”, “the high percentages of unintentional hospitalization in Greece, are essentially a symptom of a system that is ill, as there is no social health system”.
On the contrary, in areas of the country with developed social care systems, the percentages of unintentional hospitalizations fall sharply. Near the average of the countries of Europe are unintentional hospitalizations in Ioannina (28%), but also in Alexandroupolis (24%).
“Because in Ioannina and Alexandroupolis there are developed social care systems. That is, people in need are monitored by experts, there are mobile units and therefore are not alone and are forced to go unintentionally when they are in crisis, “she said. Eugenia Georgaka, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and a representative of EPAF.
“We failed in psychiatric reform,” says POEDIN President
At the same time, the president of POEDIN, Michalis Giannakosacknowledges that Greece has spent huge sums on psychiatric reform, but does not achieve the creation of an integrated mental health network.
“Despite the money we spent as a state and with Community funds to set up a integrated mental health network on psychiatric reform, we failed to achieve it. This is evident from the high number of prosecutors we have for confinement, which in our country is about 60%, but in psychiatric hospitals exceeds 70%, “he told iatropedia.gr.
With specific examples, Mr. Giannakos refers to the image in Dromokaitio:
“Last year out of the 3,500 imports made, the unintentional were over 3,100. And this year the number will be exactly at this level. And it is shown by both the number and the percentage of re -introduction, that is, patients who have been re -established, which is over 50%. The corresponding rates in the European Union are very small. “
The President of POEDIN rejects the view that the legislative framework is responsible for the situation:
“It is not the legislative framework for the prosecutors, because it is anyway the doctors are the ones who decide whether or not a patient will be introduced. The public prosecutor, following the complaint of relatives or locals, is dealing with the issue and requests a prosecutor for examination. He is examined by two psychiatrists – by public structure – who sign his introduction or alert the prosecutor that he does not need hospitalization, “he says.
According to Michalis Giannakos, the problem is found elsewhere: in the lack of a network of care and support in the community.
“Why do we not have the first instance, to keep the citizen in the community after his discharge? Why don’t we have a welfare support network for the sufferer’s family? Why haven’t we made a network of mentally ill protection with jobs, hostels? With reintegration into society. The frame is not to blame. Anyway, doctors decide whether or not they should come in. “
Fragmentation of mental health services
The political leadership of the Ministry of Health openly admits the problems. Undersecretary of Health, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, has mentioned in the recent past with dark colors, talking about one ‘Saturated system’ with over -cover of beds that reaches 150%.
The root of the problem, according to the Ministry of Health, is in the fragmentation of mental health services. One structure “does not see the other” and there was no recently organized hospital transfer mechanism to hostels or other long -term care structures.
Lack of coordination leads to the “blockage” of the system, as psychiatric clinics are filled, patients stay longer than needed, and new imports – often inadvertently – are done without sufficient preparation and support.
The new mental health bill passed by the House and led to the creation of the new National Mental Health Services Network (EYDYY) aspires to face all the above problems.
By Yianna Soulaki / Iatropedia