Alabbasya Mental Health Hospital

Abbassia Mental Health Hospital is the most famous and oldest psychiatric hospital in Egypt. It is located in the Abbassia district of Cairo.

Established in 1883, the hospital currently occupies approximately 68 acres. It was once a palace belonging to a prince, which was destroyed by a massive fire. Only a two-story building survived, which was painted yellow. This building was later converted into Cairo’s first mental hospital in 1883 and became known as the Yellow Palace.

The hospital serves 100,000 outpatients annually, including 1,300 inpatients, providing various psychiatric services.

The hospital comprises two main departments: Addiction and Mental Health. It is divided into several buildings, including two for men, two for women, and special wards for adolescents. It houses over 10,000 patients, including those under guardianship.

There are patients from Upper Egypt who were sent to the hospital by their families for fear of shame due to their schizophrenia or other mental illnesses. According to a hospital employee, 90% of the patients admitted to the hospital are forgotten; their families have abandoned them and don’t ask about them, but we are their whole family.

The consultation costs one pound, and at a low-cost addiction treatment center, it’s 200 pounds for three months, refundable upon recovery. A hotline (for urgent cases) costs 1200 pounds per month.