Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-Financial difficulties due to a cash strapped government have left the country’s two major mental health institutions fighting pellagra, malnutrition, medicinal shortages and a dangerous environment for patients.
Ngomahuru Mental Hospital in Masvingo and Ingutsheni in Bulawayo, which are the country’s two hospitals dedicated to dealing with cases of mental health, are suffering the effects of a broke government as the provided funds are proving insufficient.
The two mental hospitals receive monthly allocations ranging between $150 000 to $200 000 per month from Treasury which is way below the requested $1.5 million.
This has resulted in a shortage of sedatives for the patients some of whom have become violent due to the insufficiency of medicine.
According to Dr Wellington Ranga, Ingutsheni’s Director, patients are also currently suffering from pellagra and malnutrition due to unchanging diets composed mainly of Sadza and beans or vegetables.
Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease most frequently caused by a chronic lack of niacin (vitamin B3 or vitamin PP, from pellagra-preventing factor) in the diet.
“These days we are also facing overcrowding as we are taking over 120 to 130 patients against a capacity of 95 for the men but it’s better for females as we currently have between 30 and 35 against a capacity of 65”, he said.
In a bid to alleviate the situation the institution has roped in Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) to provide it with money for drugs.
“We are also negotiating with Global Fund, which normally finances AIDS projects, to come in also as HIV is related to mental health, while we are also negotiating with the National AIDS Council (NAC) to grant us a percentage to alleviate the situation”, he said.
A member of the Ngomahuru staff also detailed the unsavoury conditions at the institution with patients lacking clothes and medicine also.
“We also don’t have the necessary buildings at Ngomahuru as a special facility caring for special cases”.
“We actually have mere rooms for patients with hard walls on which a patient can hit his head and critically injure himself”, he said.
Recent media reports have detailed some scary events due to the absence of drugs at these mental institutions with the case of nurses being attacked by patients lacking sedatives due to limited tranquilizers being the most recent.
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