Objectives of Centre | Board | History | Contact information

In Riga a sensitive attitude towards mentally ill formed a long time ago. There were quite a lot of the sick so a necessity to locate them together in one place became essential.

In 1786 a madhouse (Tollhaus) was arranged located in the fortress of Riga. Unfortunately the conditions were so pitiful that the emperor of Russia Alexander I felt deeply disgusted at the time of his visit in 1818 and ordered to build a new hospital.

An appropriate place was found at the so called Alexander Heights. After opening the hospital kept the name - Alexander Heights. In total there were 221 beds for the sick. Next to prisoners (72), the punishable (40), the disabled (45) and patients with venereal diseases (15), 52 beds were allotted to the mentally ill. Only one doctor who was the director of the hospital at the same time was working here. Attitude towards the mentally ill was more humane than towards the other categories of the warded; they were not hit by whips and rods. The restless were dressed into camisoles.

In the 19th century the hospital realized supervision functions of the mentally ill. In the first 100 years 6500 patients were treated here. The case histories were written in German and Russian, later - in Latvian too.

The name - Alexander Heights - remained until 1944, later the name of the hospital was changed several times.

The first mental treatment hospital in Latvia in a more contemporary sense is the Hospital of Sarkankalns founded in 1862. It existed until 1942. Now in the same place the Hospital of traumatology and orthopaedy is located.

In 1920 the Chair and Clinic of psychiatry of the Faculty of Medicine of University of Latvia in the Hospital of Sarkankalns was formed and in 1946 it was moved to the Alexander Heights or the Hospital of Aptiekas street.

During World War II several psychiatry institutions were closed in Riga. After the war mental health care concentrated in Riga Mental Hospital - so was Alexander Heights called at that time.

In 1966 a new three storey hospital building was completed in which six inpatient wards, the chair of psychiatry and hospital administration was placed. In 1955 an ergo therapy studio was formed, but in 1994 - a day care hospital with 50 beds. In 1993 a social help service for patients was founded. In 1997 there were about 1000 beds in the hospital.

Beginning with 1st November 2004 the hospital and services that ensure its actions are included within the structure of the Mental Health Government Agency. The tasks of the agency in implementing the state policy in the sphere of mental health are wider.

In the end of the 20th century in relation with the joining of Latvia in the European Union a restructuring of health care was begun to form a health care that meets the standards of today. This process concerns the mental health care as well. According to the recommendations of World Health Organization an emphasis is put on the outpatient care, ensuring a possibility of curing at home, making use of the day care hospital's services and other community - based types of mental health care.

Today, as the accessibility of outpatient services is increasing, the number of psychiatric beds has been reduced to 620, this process is in progress.

Riga Centre of Psychiatry and Addiction Disorders today is still located at the historical Alexander Heights.

| to top |