The Health Committee of the Congress of Deputies debated on Wednesday, November 19, the Non-Legislative Proposal presented by the Socialist Parliamentary Group, which reflects the requests of the Atocha Declaration.
The socialist deputy Dr. Martínez Olmos defended the Motion for a Non-Legislative Act, urging the government to develop a Mental Health Strategy for the National Health System for the period 2015-2020, based on the principles of universality, equity, efficiency, solidarity, and integration. The Socialist Parliamentary Group envisions this strategy within a public health system that ensures a multidimensional approach to mental health, with a multiprofessional response and community-based care orientation, with adequate continuous attention and necessary support at home, and with services and provisions alternative to institutionalization. Aware of the current therapeutic impoverishment and the pharmacological response as the primary tool, the Socialist Parliamentary Group also proposes that psychological and psychosocial interventions and prevention work be given an essential role.
Dr. Martínez Olmos concluded his presentation by advocating for the Mental Health Strategy to be accompanied by the necessary resource allocation to make it possible, taking into account human resource needs, their adequate training, the participation of society and patients, and research.
The Atocha Group will present the Atocha Statement on World Mental Health Day (October 10th), which certifies – as the WHO had already warned in 2010 – the deterioration of the mental health of the Spanish population as a consequence of the economic crisis, the unjust increase in social inequality, and the condemnation of large sectors of the population to chronic poverty. The Atocha Declaration denounces the current strategy of turning illness into a commodity and citizens' healthcare into a business, and proposes measures to rectify the situation.
The Atocha Declaration has been signed by over 4,000 professionals and organizations.
In Catalonia, at the initiative of a group of professionals and with the support of various organizations, a Create the Platform for the Defense of Public Mental Health Care with the aim of improving the quality of public services and mobilizing professionals in this process.
