A new crisis intervention service for emergency situations in mental health should be set up in a few months, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this morning.

Addressing the annual convention of Gamian Europe, the European section of a global alliance of mental Illness advocacy networks, being held in Malta, Dr Gonzi said the centre was being promoted even because of the startling statistic that a person in Europe committed suicide every nine minutes.

Mental health, he said, was of utmost importance and the government believed in maximising an individual’s potential in all areas, including in education and social well-being.

While social security was an important safety net, one had to ensure that this did not undermine an individual’s self-management, encouraging people to be completely dependent.

Social security, Dr Gonzi said, was based on concepts drawn up many years ago in different circumstances. Times had since changed and things were now seen from a different perspective. So the system had to be rethought to ensure it was encouraging people to progress rather than surrender.

Solutions in mental health had to be people oriented and not just technical and medical, he said while stressing the importance of community care.

The Prime Minister noted, that when the first half-way house was being set up 20 years ago, the community had strongly objected to it but the objectors were now its biggest supporters. However, stigma and culture perceptions, had not been eradicated.

Health parliamentary secretary Mario Galea told the conference he hoped to table a new Mental Health Bill in Parliament soon.

The bill would be rights based and would include issues such as quality treatment, access to information and the right to refuse.

Doris Gauci, from the Richmond Foundation, is the current president of Gamian Europe.