Under spiderwebs, Psychiatry treats thousands of patients a year

The noise and scream of patients prevailed one morning in early March at the University Clinical Centre in Kosovo.

I've come back and I want to stay one more week”, earnestly asking a patient around 20 medical staff.

I don't want to take medication, I want my doctor to give me the shot”, another one said.

In the meantime, there was a woman complaining that she had been robbed of her bag.

These patients, and thousands of others a year who are visited in the psychiatrist, face undignified conditions.

Spidernets, rodents, dust, and moisture are everywhere.

Radio Free Europe provided permission to enter the Psychiatry Clinic at QKUK, where it found that there are old and de-priced inventorys in each department.

According to health staff, in addition to a few small interventions that have been done with donor assistance, the psychiatrist has not been invested since the years KH80.

And within it there are also ambulance visits, unlike many other clinics that refer to QKUK's professional ambulances.

By 2023 the total number of services in the Psychiatrics was 25.743.

Visits of adult patients have been conducted 10,253, and 3.926 for children and teenagers.

In this clinic, drug - dependent patients and alcohol - related patients are separated from other patients with psychiatric problems.

This division, says clinic director Faton Kutlovci, is done with the help of several donors' tools.

In one annex of the clinic, there are also several isolation rooms for patients who are more aggressive because of drug addiction, explains the health staff.

Of the four rooms dedicated to isolation, only one is functional.

The other three rooms are out of use, lacking conditions. Two of them have broken glass on their armoured door.

On the floor and ceiling of an isolated room are still traces of a fire from August last year.

One patient died, and five health staff members were injured in that incident.

At the time, the QKUK said that “suspected that a patient had set fire under unknown circumstances to the closed-room, with cerrast, as a result of the smoke-tightening, he has lost his life despite maximum health staff efforts to save”.

The case is still being investigated.

Psychiatric Clinic Director Kutlovci says some assessments are being made by the QKUK Directorate to see where and what to invest.

We can say that, in addition to some investments for energy efficiency, other investments [in the psychiatrist] have not been made [for years]”, he tells Radio Free EuropeWithout telling why.

By the leadership of the Kosovo Clinical and University Hospital Service, which supervises QKUK and regional hospitals agree that investments are needed in the Psychiatry Clinic and say “are looking at opportunities to start jobs as soon as”.

But this is not the only clinic with such problems within the QKUK. Because of inadequate management, REL reported earlier on Dirty in some of them, as well as lack essence.

Drug shortages are obvious, too.

The World Health Organization defines it mental health as a state of mental well-being, which enables people to cope with the stresses of life, to achieve their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community.

Many mental health problems can be effectively addressed, according to WHO, although health systems remain considerably insufficient, and the gaps in treatment are huge worldwide.