No way out for mentally ill(2)

Overloaded facilities

Although the local government decided to transfer some of the patients to other hospitals, some observers remain unconvinced it will have any broad impact.

"I don't think it is going to help. Nearly all the local mental facilities are overloaded. A hospital in Cenxi county is even worse, with 70 to 80 patients living in a shared bungalow," Xue Lei, a journalist from the Beijing Youth Daily who went to Tengxian county to conduct interviews, told the Global Times Sunday.

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is not alone. Even much wealthier cities such as Beijing and Nanjing have huge shortfalls in terms of resources for the mentally ill.

"There are over 100 million people who suffer from mental disorders in China, with 16 million having severe symptoms. However, there are only some 16,000 psychiatrists in China, meaning there are no more than two psychiatrists for every 100,000 mentally ill people, which is much lower than the international average," said Zhang.

Beijing is believed to have some of the best resources for the mentally ill in China, but even there the problem is severe.

"Beds are always full here. Sometimes patients find it hard to make bookings for treatment in hospitals," Jiang Hongfang, an official at the Beijing Anding Hospital, one of the most famous mental care facilities in China, told the Global Times Monday.

Fear of discrimination

While there are many patients with mental diseases waiting to be treated, the problem is exacerbated by patients unwilling to leave once treatment has been completed.

"There are some 800 patients with mental illness in the hospital, of which more than 100 have been here for more than five years, with the longest 20 years," Jiang said on Monday.

However, most of the mentally ill patients only need about three months to resolve their symptoms.

"After spending some time here, some of them lack confidence and are scared to face their normal lives even though they have been cured. So they choose to stay here, causing a waste of medical resources," Jiang noted.

Without the consent of patients or their relatives, hospitals cannot force them to leave.

Similar cases have also been found in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

According to a 2011 report in the Nanjing News, the proportion of patients in a local mental facility who had been there for at least five years was 80 percent, leading to some 200 patients not being able to receive treatment in a suitable time frame. Fear of discrimination is reportedly one of the reasons why they refused to leave.

"Mentally ill people have no real differences from those with physical problems. They are often conditions that can be cured, especially in cases where there has only been one breakout incident," Zhang told the Global Times, adding that patients with mental illness should learn to protect their rights using the National Mental Health Law, which was published on October 26, 2012.