Care Lacking for the Mentally Challenged

Mental health centers affiliated to the Social Welfare Organization (SWO) provide care for 25,000 patients suffering from chronic mental illnesses, but roughly 70,000 patients are on the waiting list, says Hossein Nahvinejad, a deputy at the state organization.

Currently, there are 66 day-care centers and 162 24-hour facilities that treat patient with chronic or serious mental conditions. However, the provinces of Alborz, North Khorasan, Bushehr, Gilan, and Hormozgan do not have day-care health centers, ISNA reported.

“The SWO treats a total 103,000 patients with mental problems,” Nahvinejad said, adding that about 70,000 are men.

Iran is believed to have around 200,000 mentally challenged people.

He said 11,000 patients receive a monthly pension, the amount of which was tripled at the beginning of the current fiscal year in March to 1.48 million rials ($39).