The Psychiatric clinic of the Clinical centre of Montenegro works in miserable conditions, which are below minimum standards of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and other Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). The Clinic is located in a single-storey building on Kruševac in Podgorica, with one portion of it already collapsing, while its relocation or at least complete reconstruction is not being planned at all.

The Ministry of Health has so far only promised that they intend to improve generally poor material conditions at the Clinic (capacity 40 beds) by making efforts to obtain funds from foreign donors for the restoration of “bedding fund”. HRA appealed to the Ministry to review priorities and provide resources for adequate conditions for accommodation of patients and the work of the Clinic. Funding from the state budget has recently been provided for far less important objectives (eg. the promotion of tourism and sport) from surpluses in other ministries, which could have been directed to the repair of the state of Clinic if the Ministry had it as a priority.

After visiting the Psychiatric clinic at the beginning of April 2016, HRA sent a letter to the Minister of Health prof. Ph.D. Budimir Šegrt and recommended to urgently relocate the Clinic to a space corresponding with modern hospital standards. In the meantime, until the relocation of the Clinic, HRA gave 9 recommendations based on the CPT’s standards for necessary urgent improvement of the conditions in which patients are treated.

The Minister said he will seek to raise funds from donors to improve bedding fund, for which we believe is devastating bearing in mind the overall situation of the Clinic, and we notified the Minister about this in a response on 28 April. It is unacceptable that such a serious problem approach from solving the bedding and even it depends on foreign donations.

We expect that the Ministry of Health rather than the expectations of foreign donations for bedding, inform the public of a comprehensive solution of the current inadequate state in which Psychiatric clinic of the Clinical centre of Montenegro in Podgorica works and on the humiliation of patients, their families and staff of the Clinic.

Human Rights Action (HRA), together with partner organizations Centre for Women’s and Peace Education – ANIMA from Kotor and the Mental Disability Advocacy Center – MDAC from Budapest in January 2016 begun to implement the project “Beyond exclusion – effective rights for mental health patients”, supported by EU Delegation in Podgorica.

One of the project activities is monitoring respect for human rights of patients placed at the Psychiatric Clinic of the Clinical Centre of Montenegro in Podgorica.