The head of Chicago’s Department of Public Health on Tuesday said that the city has increased the number of mental health patients it serves since the controversial closing of six mental health clinics in April 2012. However, there are fewer patients in the system today than prior to when the clinics closed.
Bechara Choucair, commissioner of the Public Health Department, told aldermen at a City Council hearing on the mayor’s proposed 2014 budget that the city has expanded the number of mental health patients it serves from 2,369 when the clinics closed to 2,440 today.