Hospital patients abandoned my families up to 3 decades

BULAWAYO's Ingutsheni Central Hospital is overwhelmed with patients that have long been discharged after treatment as their relatives do not want to collect them.

Hospital authorities on Friday said some of the patients have been staying there since 1980s.

The general medical officer for the hospital, Dr Maramba Parirenyatwa, said the 726-bed institution was having challenges in providing daily needs for such patients and urged their families to come and collect them.

"We still have patients in our open wards that should have long gone to their homes, but cannot because their families have abandoned them. Sometimes we have to force them to go home or take them to their relatives," said Dr Parirenyatwa.

"For instance, Dawson Ward has 49 patients that have been discharged, some of them have been here since independence, but their relatives have not come to collect them.

"The hospital has become their home, as they have lost contact with their relatives. Some of them die here as they have nowhere to go. Patients are better off at home than in a hospital and we urge their relatives come and take them."

Dr Parirenyatwa also said the hospital has 33 patients at Mambo Ward who have stayed there for many years, as they are awaiting trial at the courts for various offences.

"These patients have not been sentenced and continue to stay at the hospital. Some of them cannot go back to their homes because of certain behaviours that led to their arrest," he said.

Dr Parirenyatwa said lack of social support was one of the major causes of breakdown in psychiatric patients and urged communities to change their attitudes on people with mental illness. "We have a lot of people in our admissions ward that are there not because of illness, but lack social support from relatives. The problem is that our society still has negative attitudes of mental patients. There are a lot of myths about them and families tend to shun them hence sometimes we have relapses," said Parirenyatwa.

He also said the hospital was affected by lack of adequate staff complement, which he said was affecting the provision of quality service.

Meanwhile, the hospital's public relations manager Matron Vongai Chimbindi said her institution was supposed to have 187 nurses but only operates with 162.

She, however, said 78 of the nurses they have were not trained in psychiatry.

Matron Chimbindi paid tribute to the Government for the recent unfreezing of nursing posts and said the institution was processing forms for the recruitment of 24 additional nurses.

She urged members of the public to first visit referral hospitals such as Mpilo and the United Bulawayo Hospitals for treatment of physical ailments before coming to Ingutsheni for mental treatment.

"Ingutsheni only deals with mental health and not physical illnesses. We do not want people to die here because we do not have a mortuary. In any case mental illnesses do not result in death and families should understand this and seek clearance first before bringing their patients here for admission," said Matron Chimbindi.

At the moment Ingutsheni Hospital has about 500 patients in total, 313 males and 187 females.

The hospital has 14 wards that provide treatment to mentally handicapped people depending on their levels of illness.

Some of the departments found at the hospital include, pharmaceutical and occupational therapy, which deal with rehabilitation of patients before they are discharged psycho geriatric for old people, psychology and social welfare.

Dr Parirenyatwa said the causes of mental illness are difficult to explain although some can be traced back to genetic linkages or be induced by excessive intake of alcohol, drugs and stress.

He said under normal circumstances a person can take two to three weeks undergoing treatment before being discharged.