In Ostrava, the expanded Mental Health Centre has opened after the reconstruction of a historic building on Kafkova Street; it is meant to raise its capacity from 120 to 220 clients a year.
The expanded Mental Health Centre has opened in Ostrava. It is housed in a repaired historic building from 1898 on Kafkova Street. The facility provides health and social care to people with serious mental illness and, after the expansion, is to become, according to the Czech News Agency, the only comprehensive facility of this type for adults in the Moravian-Silesian Region [2].
Reconstruction of the building
The reconstruction of the building began in August 2025 and cost 37.5 million crowns, with part of the costs covered by a European subsidy [2]. According to Deník Moravskoslezský kraj, the building kept its original appearance from the street, while inside it was turned into modern premises for mental health care [1]. Petr Uhlig, director of the Městská nemocnice Ostrava, said that the house on Kafkova Street was adapted to the needs of clients and the care team, and that the reconstruction made it possible to strengthen the centre's staff and widen its services [1]. According to him, care in the new premises is to be available from the first half of November 2026 [1].
Expansion of capacity and team
After the expansion, the centre is to raise its annual capacity from about 120 to 220 clients [2]. Availability of care is to be extended from the current eight to twelve hours a day [1]. The number of nurses is to rise from four to seven, the number of social workers is to grow similarly, and the posts of the psychiatrist and the clinical psychologist are to go from half-time to full-time [2]. According to the Czech News Agency, the specialists are to begin providing care in the centre in November 2026; until then they work in temporary premises in a former pharmacy on the grounds of the Městská nemocnice Ostrava [2].
Scope of care
Gracián Svačina, head of the health part of the centre, said that the centre looks after people with schizophrenia, personality disorders or social phobia, who often cannot manage to visit even their outpatient doctor [2]. According to him, the centre's staff work mostly in the field, while clients come to the centre for examinations, for prescriptions or for group therapy [2]. Svačina added that the centre's clients often also struggle in the social sphere, have problems with housing and finances or are homeless, and that in recent years the number of people with borderline personality disorder has been growing in particular, which he links to people's loneliness during the covid-19 pandemic [2]. Jakub Sekera, head of the social part of the centre, said that the centre's role is to help people keep as much independence as possible despite the illness and to address housing, work and other worries with them, and that their relatives often need support too [2]. According to Svačina, people can turn to the centre without a referral; it is enough to call or come in [2].
History of the centre
The Ostrava Mental Health Centre was founded in 2020 in cooperation between the Městská nemocnice Ostrava and the association Asociace Trigon [2]. By September 2026, according to the Czech News Agency, it had looked after about 580 clients [2].
Related articles: Moravian-Silesian Region
Chronology
- — In Ostrava, after the reconstruction of a historic building on Kafkova Street, an expanded Mental Health Centre opened, which will increase capacity from 120 to 220 clients and become the only comprehensive facility of this type for adults in the Moravian-Silesian Region. Deník: Moravskoslezský kraj Ostravská Drbna
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Sources
- Deník (Moravskoslezský kraj) — 2 October 2026
- Ostravská Drbna (ČTK) — 4 October 2026