(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Oct. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The state human rights watchdog has called on the government to build more rehabilitation facilities for people with mental disorders, officials said Wednesday.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) made the recommendation to the health minister and the heads of 17 local governments across the country.
The rehab facilities are designed to support people suffering from various mental illnesses for their recovery and social inclusion.
The NHRC said there were 350 such facilities across the country as of 2020, which could house up to 7,166 people in total.
The number only accounts for 2.3 percent of the country’s some 311,000 people with severe mental illness, the commission said.
The watchdog also has called for the government to improve facilities’ service, since the burden of attending to the patients is mostly carried out by family members.
The NHRC has recommended building at least one more such facility in each of the 17 major cities and provinces in the country.
(Yonhap)
