More than 100 psychiatrists have signed a letter delivered by Professor Antoine Pelissolo, head of the psychiatric department of the Hospital Henri-Mondor of Créteil, in the Val-de-Marne, to the Minister of Health. They denounce the lack of care for people with mental illness, as Le Parisien reveals Wednesday.
A reduction in the number of beds and a growing demand. While one in five French people suffers from mental disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, autism or schizophrenia, according to several studies including that of the Pierre Deniker Foundation, they are not sufficiently supported. In question ? The reduction of the number of beds in the psychiatric departments of the hospitals but also of the medical practices which are overloaded. "The demand for consultation is increasing because we identify better certain disorders, and pathologies such as depression and autism are also rising," said Antoine Pelissolo in Paris .
And because the services are overloaded, patients are hospitalized for less time than they need. "It's unacceptable, you will never see it anywhere else, you will never let an open-hearted patient leave the hospital the day after your surgery," the professor rebuked.
More efforts to be made. To warn about this situation, more than 100 psychiatrists have co-signed a letter in which they mention in particular the problems of budgets allocated to psychiatry but often used for other care. Although the Minister of Health has announced an additional 50 million euros to "address the difficulties of the sector," Antoine Pelissolo believes that this is not enough. A national day of action is announced for next Tuesday at the call of several collectives.