Lebanon

QualityRights – Lebanon

In February 2019, the Al-Fanar psychiatric hospital in Lebanon was closed down following allegations of serious human rights violations against beneficiaries. Violations spanned inadequate standards of living, lack of hygiene, and suboptimal treatment including coercion and neglect.

Following these allegations, the Ministry of Public Health issued two decisions:

• Decision No. 271/1, concerning the assessment of the health status of patients transferred from Al-Fanar Hospital; and
• Decision No. 270/1, concerning the quality of care and human rights in the field of mental health, using WHO QualityRights

Following these national Decisions, WHO Lebanon and the National Mental Health Programme at the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) were successful in advocating for rights of the beneficiaries as well as for the use of the WHO QualityRights toolkit for assessing and improving the quality and human rights aspects of the mental health services. In addition, Decision No. 271/1 made it possible to address the needs of the persons transferred out of the shut-down Al-Fanar hospital.

Prior to the Al-Fanar hospital incident, the MOPH and WHO had established a team of national assessors and trained them on the use of the WHO QualityRights Toolkit. The first pilot QualityRights assessment was undertaken in 2017, with the assessment of two facilities in Lebanon. Following the Ministry of Public Health Decision 270/1, a third facility assessment took place in September 2019 and another team of QualityRights assessors was trained.

Next steps

Future plans for QualityRights in Lebanon for 2020 include:

• QualityRights training of trainers (in-person & QR e-training)
• Assessment of additional mental health services (refresher training for assessors on QualityRights assessment toolkit and methodology will be undertaken)
• The training of all service staff on mental health, human rights and recovery, based on the WHO QualityRights training materials and QualityRights e-training programme
• QualityRights training for people with psychosocial disabilities and other stakeholders
• The development of service improvement plans using the WHO QualityRights training and guidance module on transforming services and promoting human rights.  
• Follow-up assessments will also be conducted for each facility, targeting the specific areas agreed upon with the facility as key areas for improvement. 

 Related links

• Decision No. 271/1 concerning the assessment of the health status of patients transferred from Al-Fanar Hospital
• Decision No. 270/1 concerning the quality of care and human rights in the field of mental health 
• National Mental Health Strategy for Lebanon (2015-2020) 

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