This is why a recommendation was submitted to the Ministry of Health and
the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance, through the relevant
Services/Departments, urging them to immediately proceed to a thorough
evaluation whether all these people with disabilities should remain
hospitalised in the Psychiatric Hospital of Athalassa for treatment and
monitoring purposes and, at the same time, to conduct an in-depth
assessment
of
existing
programmes,
policies
and
options
of
desinstitutionalisation, so that they are appropriately redesigned and
adapted in such a manner so as to create more opportunities for the
deinstitutionalisation for as many people as possible.
The Commissioner even recommended the drawing up of individual plans
based on the needs, abilities and preferences of each individual, with the
ultimate and essential goal being their systematic deinstitutionalisation and,
in long-term, their independent living, away from any gaps that would
favour regression. In this context and as it was stated, it is also important to
take into account and address the impact that the institutionalisation itself
has brought on these people.
In addition, as the Commissioner has highlighted, central and primary
concern in laying down the framework of policies, measures and
administrative practices should be the enjoyment of the right to
independent living in the sense of the effective integration of the individual
into society in a way that allows the enjoyment of all his or her rights.
The Stance was submitted to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance in order to take their own immediate
measures, as well as to the Director of Mental Health Services, the Director
of the Department for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, the
Cyprus Confederation of Organisations of the Disabled and the Committee
for the Protection of the Rights of People with a Mental Disability.
33
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