Kristian Vigenin and Tsvetteslava Galabova with a commitment to reform mental health care

The event was held on the International Mental Health Day and therefore Kristian Vigenin paid tribute to all those who care for people with mental disorders every day – doctors, psychologists, social workers. The MEP stressed that mental health difficulties affect more and more people and the reasons are many: stress, digital overload, economic insecurity, social loneliness.

The co-organizer of the conference, the director of St. “It always starts from point zero – material and living conditions. Yes, they are important, but there are many more things to work on. We need to work on the attitude of society and institutions towards mental illness. We need to understand that mental health is part of health and we need to care for it as much as we care for physical health.”

She also congratulated mental health workers for doing the best they can for their patients in difficult circumstances.

Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Dr. Irina Lazarova drew attention to the psychiatric stigma. She noted that at an early age we label people with such diseases with negative meanings. “One in four believes that people with mental health problems should be separated and isolated in specialized facilities. However, mental illness is not social death.” She pointed to solutions to address the problem: education; awareness from valid sources – not just professionals, but the whole community; an accessible mental health portal.

According to Veselina Velichkova, it is important to focus on the cooperation between all institutions involved in the problem, especially in the social aspect. Kalina Ivanova noted that institutions should be allies of NGOs, not obstacles in solving the problems in this sector.

The former Minister of Health Dr. Stoycho Katsarov noted that there are huge problems in the organization and financing of psychiatric care in Bulgaria: “The funds are extremely insufficient and inefficiently spent. Instead of socialising those affected, paying per bed per day stimulates the filling of hospital beds, and with mild cases, while the severe ones are avoided. Funding should be modelled on diagnostic linkage groups – quality indicators should be introduced and linked to treatment outcomes. For this reform to happen, our society needs to be ripe for it and have the political will.”

The Head of the Department of Psychiatry of Medical University, Plovdiv prof. “The funds that are badly needed for the Bulgarian psychiatric healthcare, which are set out in the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, are given against reforms. In their absence, the money is returned.”

Dr. Lydia Chorbanova gave an overview of the functioning of psychiatric health care in the member states. She presented the practices in Greece, Poland, Estonia, France, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. She pointed out that in Bulgaria the framework should be created from now on – how to develop health-psychiatric care. Dr. Chorbanova outlined the need for a new special law to regulate this care: “We need a regulation of the terms and conditions for the provision of psychiatric health care, the interaction between the responsible institutions, and equal access to care for everyone in need. There is also a need for a clear indication of the role of local authorities in this process.”

During the lively discussion the problems with the implementation and non-implementation of the National Strategy for Mental Health, the legal regulations and the need to change them and create a special law were discussed.

Kristian Vigenin pledged to continue working on the issue of mental health and the search for effective solutions so that care for this group of people becomes more accessible and in the interest of the whole society. He noted that this is the beginning of a new effort to accelerate reforms in Bulgaria in this area and to overcome the problems.

Dr Tsveteslava Galabova expressed her satisfaction that a step in the right direction has been taken to create the necessary environment for reform in this area.

Guests of the conference were MEP from the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Tsvetelina Penkova, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy Ivan Krastev, MPs Nina Dimitrova, Ivan Ibrishimov, Alexander Simidchiev, Aiten Sabri and Shendoan Halit, representatives of all responsible ministries, the court and the prosecutor’s office.