Four years after the Kosovo war, an increasing number
of people are suffering from emotional problems linked
to the conflict.
By Alma Lama in Pristina (BCR 423, 15-Apr-03)
More than three years after he was released from a
Serbian prison, it is still difficult for Arsim Uka to
turn on the light in his bedroom on awakening.
"When the light would go on at the prison,
everybody had to wake up quickly and turn facing the
wall with our hands behind and on our knees - those who
were not quick enough were subjected to inhuman tortures
and beatings," he recalled.
Uka's recollection and fear is just one of thousands
of such memories that plague the survivors of the 1999
Kosovo conflict during which more than 10,000 people
were killed and half a million uprooted before NATO
military intervention expelled the Serbian forces.
Four years after the war, the corridors at the Neuro-Psychiatric
Hospital in Pristina are full of people waiting to be
treated for conditions caused by what doctors call
post-traumatic stress disorder. In reality, little help
is available for them: there are only about 30
psychiatrists and psychologists in the contested
province and the government does not have any programmes
to treat such trauma.
Despite the passage of time, the problem is growing,
with one survey indicating that the number of reported
cases more than doubled between 2001 and 2002.
Uka has travelled to the Kosovo Centre for the
Rehabilitation of Victims of Tortures from Podujevo, 40
km north of Pristina. His missing teeth are a reminder
of the tortures he suffered during his ten-month
incarceration in Leskovac prison in Serbia, on charges
of abducting an ethnic Serb.
He tells doctors he suffers from stomach pain and
deep depression, which is accompanied by constant thirst
and frequent nightmares.
He recalls in an interview how the prison guards had
forced all the Albanian prisoners to get into cold water
without removing their clothes and were then forced to
walk around in the snow.
Barely suppressing tears, he also says he was
sexually abused in prison. "I had the feeling that
I was going crazy there - it still haunts me from time
to time," he said.
The centre said in January that the number of
patients treated for psychiatric disorders increased
from 1,187 in 2001 to 2812 last year.
Dr Ferid Agani, a neuro-psychiatrist, said it is not
surprising that more people are being diagnosed with the
disorder, " Right after the end of the war, people
had to think of their most immediate problems such as
reuniting with their families, rebuilding their
destroyed houses, facing the new post-war reality and
things like that, but now that these issues might have
been partially solved, people are starting to suffer
more spiritual pain."
In September 1999, the US Centre for Disease Control,
CDC, concluded from a survey of 1,358 people that 18.7
per cent of those questioned showed signs of the
ailment. A year later, a similar study showed that 25
per cent were affected.
People most likely to suffer are children, raped
women and those who have lost their loved ones in war or
were held and tortured in Serbian prisons.
The CDC survey estimated that 67 per cent of Kosovo
Albanians are suffering psychological disorders. Some
have flashbacks, accompanied by deep emotions, fear,
anxiety and uncontrolled reactions.
But Dr Agani said that most Kosovars try to contain
this within the family and do not ask for help from
doctors until symptoms become very serious. Which is why
experts believe that the actual number of people
suffering from severe depression is much higher than
surveys indicate. Psychologists blame mental health
problems for increasing rates of crime, suicide, family
violence and divorce.
But the biggest problem is that Kosovo is not
equipped with the necessary medical expertise and
medical staff to treat patients with such emotional
problems. There are only 26 neuro-psychiatrists, four
clinical psychologists and one child psychiatrist in the
whole of Kosovo. As a result, few patients get adequate
treatment.
Dr Agani said the current social, political and
economic difficulties in the province are also leading
to increased cases of emotional distress.
According to the 2002 annual report of the ministry
of labour and social affairs, 57.1 per cent of the
able-bodied population is unemployed, half live below
the poverty line and 12 per cent do not have even
minimal living conditions.
Hannu Vuori, an official at the United Nations
Mission in Kosovo responsible for health, acknowledged
that the health ministry does not have any specific
programme or funding for people suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Such projects have not been foreseen because
mental health is considered a very complex speciality
and we have not had any proposal from competent
specialists in the field who would be able to implement
such projects for people suffering from the
trauma," Vuori said.
Alma Lama is an independent Kosovo journalist