Kanari announces national strategy for mental health

Health Minister Popi Kanari announced on Friday that the government is set to publish a national strategy for mental health next year.

Kanari was speaking to staff at the Athalassa psychiatric hospital and said that while “narrow timeframes” have been given for it to be devised and implemented, the timeframes in question are “feasible”.

She said a committee has already been created involving all the relevant stakeholders, and that the creation of the strategy would help to support the sector which, she said, has been “a bit forgotten” historically.

The creation of the strategy, she said, would be supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

To this end, WHO experts have already visited the island last week, with Kanari saying they had come for the purpose of “seeing what Cyprus has and what it doesn’t have, in order to shape the strategy in the best way according to the country’s situation.”

Greece, which has already completed and implemented its own national strategy for mental health, has also offered its services to Cyprus.

Kanari added, “it is also a matter which concerns many other countries in the European Union, and Commissioner Stella Kyriakides recommended that all member states proceed with the creation of such a strategy.”

With this in mind, she said state health services (Okypy) are already undertaking upgrades at Athalassa, with the first upgraded ward expected to be put into service in March.

This, she said, “will substantially upgrade the level of service provided to patients.”

The second phase of upgrades will be completed before 2026, while other planned works are also in the pipeline.

Kanari said, “we are also moving forward with facilities which will be improved at the Limassol hospital, so we will be doing a fair bit in the new year. We hope the requisite services will be upgraded, and we will put all our effort in to upgrading them.”

Referring to a recent fire which took place at Athalassa, she said one ward which was damaged has now been completely restored and is now fully operational.

She added that works on the other will start after Christmas, with the ward ready to be put back into service in mid-January.

In addition, she touched on the matter of funding for patients who are sent abroad for treatment, saying House President Annita Demetriou has requested that the finance ministry allocate €4 million in funding for their family members to join them.

“I also consider covering these expenses to be imperative. Funding has always been available for the relatives of children who are sent abroad, but I believe that in all cases, since the state cannot provide the services they require directly, it should cover all expenses in the case that an individual is sent abroad for treatment,” she said.

She added that such support “should be taken for granted”.

Despite this assertion, she said the funds will not be allocated in the 2024 state budget “as we do not have time”, but that there will be a supplementary budget allocated at some point next year for that specific purpose.