5.10 Mental health care

Mental health care is provided in outpatient and inpatient settings and is covered by SHI. In 2008, psychiatric services were provided in 386 outpatient departments and in 81 inpatient departments with a total of 4379 beds. The inpatient departments are specialized in psychiatry (78% of psychiatric beds), geriatric psychiatry (7%) and drug addiction (15%). A total of 2134 patients had been admitted for outpatient treatment, 4% of whom were adolescents. Psychiatric diseases constituted 54% of the overall treatment, while alcohol and drug abuse accounted for 32% and 13% respectively (NCHI, 2009c). A full overview of the various institutions providing mental health services in Slovakia can be found in Box 5.1.

The government of Slovakia approved the National Programme of Mental Health in 2004, which has the following goals for the period 2005–2015: destigmatization of people with mental disorders, development of psychiatric home care agencies, development of crisis intervention services and development of mental health programmes. The goals were set through a dialogue between EU Member States and the EC (the Green Paper on Mental Health consultation) and their future development is incorporated in several EU documents. The Ministry of Health adopted strategic documents concerning mental health care and the concept of drug addiction medicine in 2006.

In 2008, inpatient facilities hospitalized a total of 1841 drug addicts, which was 30% less than in 2000. Treatment was sought most by users of heroin (35%) and stimulant drugs, mainly methamphetamine (23%) (NCHI, 2009b). Financial resources used to fight drug use and abuse focused on a reduction of the supply through repressive measures (70% of financial resources) and a reduction of the demand through prevention, treatment, harm reduction and education (30%).

Box 5.1: Mental health services in Slovakia

Source: Data from HPI, 2008.

The General Secretariat of the Ministerial Committee for Drug Addiction and Drug Control was established in 1995 with expert committees on (1) prevention, (2) legal issues and law enforcement, (3) communication strategies, and (4) treatment and re-socialization. The National Monitoring Centre for Drugs, a part of the General Secretariat, focuses on the monitoring and evaluation of the drug situation in Slovakia, in connection with the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) located in Lisbon. The centre is a member of the REITOX network (European Information Network on Drugs and Drug Addictions), which monitors psychotropic substances and provides background information for political decisions at the national and European levels.