Professor Kasha Farid, the head of the medical facility for mental diseases in al-Sharafa and the chairman of the Algerian Association for Mental Diseases, mentioned that there are 30,000 mentally ill people in Algeria, and only 6,000 beds in the medical institutions operating in this sector, i.e. one bed for each 5,000 people. The July 7 edition of Al-Khabar newspaper said the number of beds for mental ill people, according to Farid, has not changed since 1962, making this sector the only one among all medical sectors which did not witness any progress.
He clarified that his medical institution accepts 1000-1500 patients annually, each of them needs a treatment lasting at least 45 days. Thus, this institution suffers from high density. The number of mentally ill people in the Algerian capital is 3,000, while the number of beds in all medical facilities operating in this sector is just 500 beds.
