Historical facts about the Special psychiatric hospital 'Gornja Toponica' Nis, Serbia

Abstract

The sale and the purchase of a large estate in the area of the village of GornjaToponica near Nis, was officially closed on the 9th of September 1911, providing the area on which today's Psychiatric Hospital was built. The land on which the hospital was constructed is known according to historical records and it was known as the 'King Milan's Estate'. It was the property of his ex-wife Natalija, who was divorced and banished from Serbia, the same lady who donated her spacious estate in Serbia to the University of Belgrade. The hospital started working in 1927. On that day 160 patients were transported from the Hospital for Mental Diseases in Belgrade to the railway station near Toponica. According to available data, in 1929, 320 patients were hospitalised in the hospital whose total number of beds was 160. Four doctors and 40 workers looked after and provided treatment to these number of patients. The number of applications for treatment kept increasing, so that in 1935 there were 492 patients, and in 1940 as many as 604 patients. The state hospital continued working also during World War II under very difficult, demanding and highly risky conditions for the patients, and in particular for the staff and management. The number of patients was increasing after building new pavilons in 1960. In 1970 the number of hospitalised patients was between 1200-1500. The current capacity of the hospital is 800 beds, the hospital has recruited 48 doctors (18 neuropsyhiatrists, 22 psychiatrics), 155 nurses, 41 senior nurses, 5 social workers and 9 psychologists. It should be noticed that the hospital are now actively involved in the implementation deinstituionalization and reorganization of psychiatry. As the first institution in the region, it has started and successfully implemented a pilot project of establishing the first Center for Mental Health in the community. There has also been significant progress in reducing the number of hospitalized patients with the trend of shortening the length of hospitalization and directing special attention to out-hospital treatment. It is planned to follow up the de-institutionalization and de-stigmatization psychiatric patients. The new management of hospital is moving into the new millennium according to the tradition based as far back in 1927. As the Hippocrates said 'Recovery takes time, but the right conditions.'.