New law: no netted or caged beds in institutional care

As of January 1 2007, there should be no caged or netted beds in use in Czech institutional care, a new social services law stipulates. According to Martin Zarsky from the labour and social affairs ministry, the use of the beds is no longer among the measures authorised to control patients. Though the law was signed by the president in March, the news has come as a surprise to many institutions where netted and caged beds are still in use. Some of them have expressed fear that they will have neither the budget nor the extra staff necessary to implement the changes.

International NGOs have repeatedly criticised Czech social and mental institutions for their use of caged and netted beds. They say the measure is inhumane and would not be necessary if institutions had more staff and adopted more modern forms of treatment.