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BELGRADE — Serbian government officials on Thursday pledged to investigate allegations that disabled children were systematically abused in the country's psychiatric hospitals and social care institutions.
A report issued Wednesday by U.S.-based Mental Disability Rights International alleged that Serbia neglects and mistreats its mentally disabled, keeping some patients tied to their beds for years without proper care.
"This issue must be resolved," Justice Minister Dusan Petrovic said. "The government will deal with it as soon as possible."
He said anyone found to have abused patients would be punished, but did not say what other action the government might take or if a formal inquiry would be launched.
Other government officials said Wednesday that the report was an exaggeration, although accurate in many aspects. Social Affairs Minister Rasim Ljajic promptly ordered that one of the institutions cited in the report stop admitting children.
Ljajic, however, also called the report "malicious," saying it suggested Serbia was intentionally mistreating its patients, an allegation he said was "unacceptable."
On Thursday, Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic reiterated that the report "seemed politically misused" because the group has made no contact with the Serbian institutions and released the report first to the media.
The rights group acknowledged that some improvements have accompanied Serbia's transition to democracy following a series of wars in the 1990s, but pointed out that much more needed to be done.
The MDRI report, accompanied by graphic pictures and video footage, was prominently covered in Serbia's main media and was fodder for public discussions.
Independent B92 radio quoted a pediatrician at the Kulina Center for the Disabled who said they do restrain the children occasionally, but "only for 15-20 minutes" and when they are in position to hurt themselves.
