By Tendai Guvamombe
Zimbabwe (News of The South) – Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital is grappling with shortage of staff in the psychiatric unit despite the institution being responsible for the training of a high number of nursing students on an annual basis.
This was revealed during Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health’s visit to the Provincial Hospital last Sunday where it was noted that the current staff compliment is failing to tally with the number of patients in the Psychiatric Unit.
In a report presented to the Parliamentary Portfolio by Collet Mawire, Medical Superintendent of the institution daily staff ratio is 1:6 with only three registered nurses against the recommended ratio of 1:3, a predicament which is posing serious challenges for the availing staff.
“We have a critical staff shortage in the PU. Currently, we have a daily average of 18 patients and 3 registered Mental Health Nurses. The ratio of 1:6 is very high compared to to the recommended 1:3 for acute, 1:1 for suicidal and 1:5 for chronic cases.”
Apart from this the Provincial Hospital faces other myriad challenges which include administration admission of patients without adequate information and staying longer after treatment due to the unavailability of Social Wafare Officers to assist.
“Most patients are admitted without full information on relatives and adresses end up staying longer because there is no Social Wafare Officer to assist.”
Speaking to this News of The South, Acting Chairperson of Parliamentary Portfolio Committee Honorable Goodluck Kwaramba said they were to compile a report based on thier findings to the parliament findings in order to find the way forward regarding challenges at the institution.
“As the portfolio committee on health we have taken note of these challenges we have seen today which include shortage of staff especially in the psychiatric unit, so we are going to compile a report with recommendations to the parliament and this will definitely try to address some of the critical areas we noted today.”
Apart from this the report also revealed that Patients admitted with substance induced psychosis are on the increase especially teenagers and young adults of the 25 patients admitted with substance abuse 15 are aged 18-25 years in the in the first half of 2019.
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