A draft amendment to Poland’s Mental Health Protection Act has divided psychiatric experts as the Ministry of Health struggles to finalize changes.
Amendment Divides Psychiatric Community
A draft amendment to the Mental Health Protection Act (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 917) and other acts, which the Ministry of Health submitted for consultation last October, has divided the psychiatric community. For several months, the ministry has been unable to agree with experts on the final direction of the legal changes.
Emotional Debate Over Legal Changes
This amendment generates a lot of emotions, reaching a unified position will be difficult, although everyone agrees on one thing, that the law must be amended because in its current form it does not correspond to the realities of clinical practice and the current organization of benefits – emphasizes Anna Śremska, president of the Association of Employers of Psychiatric Care and Addiction Treatment and director of the Babiński Hospital in Łódź.