A NEW report by Amnesty International criticises Bulgaria for having a bad attitude to mentally disabled people, and for alleged torture of detainees in police custody.
The report, covering the period from January to December last year, was released in London last week.
It deals with the state of social care homes for children, the elderly, and mentally disabled people.
People suffering from mental diseases are victims of constant discrimination, the report said. Living conditions in the social homes are humiliating and the country's legislation did not protect their rights, according to Amnesty International.
The organisation also criticised Bulgaria for numerous cases of detainees being tortured and beaten by police. Only a few of these cases had gone to court, the report said.
The annual report for Bulgaria said that "people with mental disabilities faced constant discrimination, and conditions in many social care homes were inhuman and degrading". Patients and residents in social care homes suffered inadequate rehabilitation and care. The report described material conditions in social care homes as "dreadful".
"In combination, these conditions amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in violation of international human rights law."
Hristo Hinkov, an expert at the National Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health, said that draft amendments to the Public Health Act would resolve the problem with hospitalising of patients for mandatory treatment in psychiatric establishments, in accordance with the recommendations in the Amnesty International report.
"The rehabilitation and therapy of people with psychiatric illnesses is a matter of serious structural changes and also an overall reform of the sector," Hinkov told journalists.
The amendments were part of the national programme for psychiatric health, and improvement of the conditions in health care establishments, as well as representing a shift to treatment within the community and not in isolation, he said.
People with mental illnesses will be treated in alternative psychiatric and social care establishments, helping them avoid isolation from society, disability and degradation, Hinkov said.
The report, covering the period from January to December last year, was released in London last week.
It deals with the state of social care homes for children, the elderly, and mentally disabled people.
People suffering from mental diseases are victims of constant discrimination, the report said. Living conditions in the social homes are humiliating and the country's legislation did not protect their rights, according to Amnesty International.
The organisation also criticised Bulgaria for numerous cases of detainees being tortured and beaten by police. Only a few of these cases had gone to court, the report said.
The annual report for Bulgaria said that "people with mental disabilities faced constant discrimination, and conditions in many social care homes were inhuman and degrading". Patients and residents in social care homes suffered inadequate rehabilitation and care. The report described material conditions in social care homes as "dreadful".
"In combination, these conditions amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in violation of international human rights law."
Hristo Hinkov, an expert at the National Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health, said that draft amendments to the Public Health Act would resolve the problem with hospitalising of patients for mandatory treatment in psychiatric establishments, in accordance with the recommendations in the Amnesty International report.
"The rehabilitation and therapy of people with psychiatric illnesses is a matter of serious structural changes and also an overall reform of the sector," Hinkov told journalists.
The amendments were part of the national programme for psychiatric health, and improvement of the conditions in health care establishments, as well as representing a shift to treatment within the community and not in isolation, he said.
People with mental illnesses will be treated in alternative psychiatric and social care establishments, helping them avoid isolation from society, disability and degradation, Hinkov said.
