The Chamber of Deputies approved the hospitalization bill for homeless people at risk of serious illness or even death. During the eve, it was agreed that a group of Senators will vote next week the shared tenure initiative, which will reach the plenary in August.
The proposal, presented by the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) in June of this year, seeks to expand the 2011 law on compulsory hospitalization of homeless people at risk of life. “It is a great tool, especially to protect life and people who are on the streets,” said nationalist deputy Diego Echeverría.
“This tool aims to preserve the lives of those people who are at risk due to an outdoor situation and who are homeless due to issues of psychiatric pathologies or addictions,” added Echeverría.
Regarding the performance, he explained that the idea is to take them and hospitalize them, against their will, but that “he has a medical opinion, which says that it should be done that way. And then it is the psychiatrist who says the form and time of hospitalization, “concluded the nationalist.
The Broad Front did not support the project and the party’s deputy, Mariano Tucci, expressed that: “The Uruguayan State already has the necessary tools to deal with the street situation. Which is ultimately what the Ministry of Social Development is using.”
“This is politicizing an issue that is sensitive. That involves not only the people who are experiencing such an unfortunate situation but also their environment. These issues have to be treated very carefully, delicately and with political responsibility,” said Tucci.
