Smoking ban could be lifted in Romanian psychiatric hospitals

The law that bans smoking could be amended to exclude people with serious mental disorders hospitalized in psychiatric hospitals. A committee made up of representatives of the Ministry of Health, Education, Interior, and Justice will ask the Parliament to amend the law, according to the Health Ministry, reports local Mediafax. Five psychiatric hospitals in Romania have submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Health to describe the problems encountered by patients after the smoking ban entered into force on March 17. It is hard to explain the people suffering from serious mental disorders who are also hospitalized that they can’t smoke inside, according to the memorandum. The personnel is also insufficient to be able to supervise the smokers throughout the day. editor@romania-insider.com