Investing in child psychiatric care
VFN counts on 140 million to expand child psychiatric care. It thus responds to the acute lack of beds and available services for children and young people.
The number of mentally ill children and adolescents in the Czech Republic is rising alarmingly. In recent years, especially after covid, the incidence of anxiety disorders, self-harm and suicide attempts among teenagers has increased significantly. There are also more cases of eating disorders. According to doctors, social networks also contribute to this, as they place unfulfillable demands on young people, and teenagers are unable to critically assess this fact. With regard to the acute shortage of beds, the General Faculty Hospital in Prague, with the support of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, plans to expand the premises of the day-care center of the Children and Adolescent Detoxification Center and build a new in-patient ward for children at the psychiatric clinic.
The entire modern society is exposed to hitherto completely unusual forms of stress stimuli (covid-19, a nearby war conflict, migration, economic influences), which affect not only the mental health of adults, but also the increased incidence of mental disorders in children and adolescents. No one expected such an onslaught on psychiatric and psychological services, which is why the psychiatric care system in the Czech Republic is now experiencing a crisis caused by excessive and often unsatisfied demand. The situation is the same at the General University Hospital in Prague, where the Psychiatric Clinic of the 1st Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Czech Republic and VFN, as the only medical facility in the Czech Republic, provides the services of the Children's and Adolescent Detoxification Center and the unique services of the Day Clinic for adolescents. Their capacities are insufficient, therefore, with the support of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, the premises of the day care center will be expanded and a new inpatient children's department will be created, which is desperately lacking.
"Mental health is one of the main prerequisites for a full life and involvement in society. It is therefore essential to provide high-quality and affordable care not only for children's patients in accordance with the standards of today's medicine. The number of children and young people who need care in this direction in the Czech Republic is increasing after the Covid years, which is why I am glad that we can support the building of new capacities and thus increase the availability of this care." said the Minister of Health Prof. MD Vlastimil Válek, CSc., MBA, EBIR.
