The Ministry of Health and the Parliamentary Committee for Health, Labor and Social Welfare have not reacted in recent days to the findings of the State Audit Institution's audit that the state has done almost none of the planned activities to improve the mental health of citizens in recent years.
The government department responsible for implementing the strategy for the protection and improvement of mental health did not respond to "Vijesti" as to why 76 percent of planned activities were not implemented, nor what they will do regarding the SAI audit.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Labor and Social Welfare Drazen Petrić He told "Vijesti" that he "personally believes that the topic of mental health should be raised before the committee," but did not announce that he would initiate a control hearing.
"Assembly committees can organize control and consultative hearings based on the decision of the majority of committee members. Therefore, in order to organize such hearings, seven votes are required, because the committees consist of 13 members. So far, no initiative has been submitted by any member of the Committee on Health, Labor and Social Welfare, regarding the Audit of the Success of the Implementation of Activities Provided by the Strategy for the Protection and Improvement of Mental Health in Montenegro 2019-2023," Petrić replied.
Asked whether and when the Committee to which the SAI submitted the audit findings would hold a control hearing at the session, he said that this decision did not depend solely on him as the Chairman of the Committee.
"Who would be invited is decided based on an agreement among the members of the Committee and in accordance with the competences of the institutions that were responsible for the implementation of the aforementioned Strategy, as well as institutions that can contribute to the most comprehensive consideration of the topic. Personally, I believe that the topic of mental health should be raised before the parliamentary Committee," said Petrić.
The performance audit of the State Audit Institution (DRI), published last Thursday, showed that the Ministry of Health did not implement as many as 76 percent of the activities planned by the Strategy for the Protection and Improvement of Mental Health in Montenegro for the period from 2019 to 2023.
The audit found that only 15 percent of activities were implemented, but that they did not have a significant effect on improving mental health, while nine percent were partially implemented.
The final audit report states that the state has not developed (additional) education programs for psychologists, pedagogues, and school teaching staff in the field of early recognition and intervention in mental health disorders, and a situation analysis has not been conducted to redefine the required number, location, role, and organization of mental health centers.
DRI indicates that an alcoholism screening program has not been implemented in primary health care, nor have regulations been improved to enable mental health centers to provide the full range of mental health services based on the principles of community psychiatry.
The auditors point out that an acceptable interim solution has not been developed for the problem of treating patients with a security measure of mandatory psychiatric treatment and detention in a health institution.
An analysis of the compliance of legislation in the field of mental health with relevant international recommendations in the field of respect and protection of the human rights of persons with mental health disorders has not been conducted.
The DRI also emphasizes that the Protocol on Handling Aggressive Patients has not been developed and distributed to all mental health centers and clinics, and that the Registry of Psychoses has not been established, as well as the Registry of Children with Developmental Disabilities.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the implementation of the Strategy, however, the key reason for the very small number of activities implemented is the lack of delegation of responsibility for the implementation of specific tasks and the lack of constant monitoring of implementation and taking specific measures...", the auditors emphasize.
The audit was conducted between June and December 2024, and during the period covered by the audit, the Minister of Health was Kenan Hrapovic, Jelena Borovinić, Dragoslav Šcekić i Vojislav Šimun, the report states.
After the tragedy in Cetinje on January 1st, when a Cetinje resident Aco Martinović killed 12 people and injured four, one of whom later succumbed to his injuries at the Clinical Center of Montenegro, the Ministry of Health told "Vijesti" that they plan to strengthen the capacity of mental health centers by increasing the number of psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers. They said that the Mental Health Improvement Program for the period until 2026 is in its final phase, which also plans to train staff in new therapeutic techniques and tools for trauma management.
They claimed that priority areas had been defined, including primarily the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental illness, improving capacities for early diagnosis, and reducing the number of hospitalizations and rehospitalizations of psychiatric patients.
They said that in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography, a solution must be found for the significant number of patients who have been in the Dobrota Special Psychiatric Hospital for years, some even for decades, because they have nowhere else to be, even though the newly opened Psychiatric Clinic in Podgorica will significantly relieve the capacity of the Kotor hospital. They also argued that the construction of a hospital for court patients should free up a large number of hospital beds in Kotor.
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