Human Rights Commission: "Poor Psychiatric Ward Conditions Turn Treatment into Confinement"

83.6% of Wards Lack Adequate Lighting and Ventilation
"Systems Must Be Revised for a Human Rights-Centered Environment"

There have been criticisms that the poor facility environments of mental health care institutions are turning the treatment of people with mental illnesses into a form of confinement, thereby violating human dignity and physical freedom.

On July 13, the National Human Rights Commission announced that it had recommended to the Minister of Health and Welfare a revision of laws and systems to improve the facility environment of mental health care institutions, as well as the establishment of a national-level improvement roadmap. The commission first recommended a comprehensive nationwide survey of mental health care facility environments, followed by the development of a national facility improvement roadmap. It also proposed specifying the standards for seclusion room size, inpatient room lighting, ventilation, hygiene, and safety installations in legislation, developing a human rights-centered psychiatric ward model, providing financial support for facility improvements, and strengthening the guidance and supervision of public health centers.

Appropriate example of an inpatient room (left) and an inappropriate example of facility environment among mental health institutions investigated by the National Human Rights Commission. National Human Rights Commission

According to a fact-finding survey conducted last year by the commission on mental health care institutions nationwide, 83.6% of psychiatric wards had structures that were vulnerable to natural lighting and ventilation, and the proportion of multi-person rooms accommodating five or more people reached 60.0%. In addition, 55.4% of seclusion rooms did not have windows, indicating that the overall treatment environment was poor.

The commission found that these conditions exist because the current facility standards are insufficient. The existing 'Enforcement Rules of the Act on the Improvement of Mental Health and the Support of Welfare Services for Persons with Mental Disorders' only regulate the inpatient room space per patient, the distance between beds, and the number of seclusion rooms, lacking specific standards for lighting, ventilation, hygiene, and safety facilities.

The commission also pointed out that the 'Basic Plan for Mental Health and Welfare (2026–2030)' does not include plans for improving the facility environment of mental health care institutions, and that hospital evaluations are ineffective. A commission official stated, "We hope that related laws and systems will be revised so that the facility environment of mental health care institutions can be improved with a focus on recovery and human rights, allowing people with mental illnesses to receive treatment in a safer medical environment."

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