In Chernihiv region, inmates of a psychoneurological boarding school are forced to lie on the floor and are poorly fed

Employees of the Ukrainian Ombudsman’s Office and public monitors, with the participation of a representative of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Tukhan Ediev, conducted a monitoring visit to the Chernovenskyi Psychoneurological Boarding House in the Chernihiv region (Koropskyi district).

Currently, the institution houses 253 men with mental disorders, of whom only 35 are capable and 20 are limitedly capable.

The monitors established that the wards live in rooms equipped with the necessary furniture for four to five people, have individual clothes and bed linen. The territory of the boarding house is fenced, there are many trees and flower beds, there are benches and gazebos.

The boarding house residents can play computer games, each department has places to watch TV programs, and there are also TVs in many rooms. During the visit, a festive concert was held, in which the boarding house residents participated.

Eight men work on the subsidiary farm in accordance with the employment agreement.

However, violations of the rights of the wards were revealed. In addition to the residents of department No. 1 for bedridden patients, others are not allowed to lie on their beds during the day, so those who do not want to walk are forced to sit on chairs or lie in the room on the floor.

The director of the boarding house was appointed as the guardian of almost 180 wards by a court decision. 25% of the pension or social assistance of the wards is spent in individual cases when additional treatment costs are required. In fact, the guardian does not use the personal funds of the incapacitated persons for their needs, they are stored in bank accounts.

The monitoring group established that five employees of the catering unit eat meals prepared for the wards every day. During the inspection of department No. 1, there was no meat in the pea soup, while there was a significant amount of meat in the soup stored for the employees. Moreover, the dishes did not correspond to the menu. The wards are involved in the work of the catering unit, the room for peeling potatoes is in an unsanitary condition.

The sanitary and epidemiological regime is not observed in the institution. The only lamp is used only for quartzing the manipulation room in violation of technical requirements. Violations of sanitary standards were found in the medical center.

The monitoring group found that the appearance of the wards makes an unpleasant impression. They are dressed in the same gray clothes, camouflage jackets and rubber shoes. During the conversation, they complained about poor nutrition and asked for cigarettes.

The report on the results of the visit will be sent to the leadership of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration.

According to the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine