Netherlands "Mental health, care, state"...greater than the cost

[Anchor]
Mental health has become an important topic in our society now.

More and more people are suffering from various mental illnesses, how are they solving this problem abroad?

Reporter Kim Joo-young visited the Netherlands, which is spending 1% of GDP a year on mental health issues for the people.

[Reporter]
Handricks, who lives in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is being treated by a secondary medical institution as his problems with irritable neurological diseases worsen.

Handrix says he is satisfied with the improvement of his disease by continuously communicating with psychotherapists.

[Merian undecided Handricks / irritable neurological disease patient, living in Amsterdam: I want to give a high score that gives me 9 out of 10.]

Unlike when similar problems first started for Mr Handrix 20 years ago,

Since a few years ago, the government has been managing the daily lives of people who have mental health difficulties.

The key is to build a network in the region.

Hospitals periodically check the conditions of people with mental illness in connection with local governments, schools, and social welfare institutions.

[Thomas Riker / 1st and 2nd Medical Institution Doctor: Continuous monitoring is required. We meet regularly 2-3 times a year and monitor them.

If the condition appears, treat it quickly, and if it worsens, it is easily connected to a secondary medical institution for more professional treatment.

[Rian Bustra / Chairman, Dimensity Group, 2nd Medical Institution: We have teams in each region. When neighbors or police around them contact us, we try to visit them and help them.]

Even in our society, mental illness is no longer a disease that only a few suffer from.

Depression patients alone reached 1.04 million last year, and their medical expenses alone exceeded 680 billion won.

However, public management at the national level is only required to check the mental health part during health checkups every 10 years.

Of course, strengthening public management will inevitably lead to huge budget investments.

The Netherlands also spends as much as 1% of GDP.

However, experts say that the tangible and intangible benefits are much greater as 1.4 million people, or 8% of the total population, use this system.

[Halk Stuff / Professor of Social Work at Via University: For example, if you have symptoms of mental health problems since elementary school, you can teach someone how to talk and get help, you can help save money and increase efficiency.]

If you think about the larger social costs that could be in the future, the government and experts here say that the current costs are sufficiently affordable.

I'm Kim Joo-young from Wirk, Netherlands.