Headache of patients ‘deserted’ at Mirembe

Dodoma. It is meant to treat psychiatric patients yet the Mirembe Hospital is now facing a new challenge that calls for immediate redress.

Relatives of some patients fail to go back and pick their relatives after they have been effectively treated and returned to normalcy, the Director of the Mirembe National Mental Health Hospital Dr Paul Lawala, told The Citizen at the weekend.

Keeping patients who have recovered at the hospital drains its resources which should have been directed to others similar needs.

Presently, Dr Lawala said, at least 30 of the patients who have been treated were still at the facility as their relatives have not turned up to pick them so they can continue with income-generating activities.

Taking care of a single patient at the hospital takes between Sh15,000 and Sh20,000 per day, Dr Lawala said.

People from various regions take their relatives there for medication and once they recover they disappear and leave them at the hospital.

‘’We receive patients from various regions across the country. The problem is that some relatives tend to vanish as soon as they bring patients to the hospital for medical treatment,” he said.

This, he said, was partly because some community members no longer want to associate with people with a track record of mental health problems despite having received treatment and completely recovered.

According to the treatment guidelines, the hospital cannot let a treated patient to leave the facility alone. “We have to take care of his/her accommodation and food despite being stable. This has led to an increase in costs and the accommodation of patients, hence degrading the quality of services provided to a large number of patients,” he said.

Though relatives have to list their contact details when they go with patients to Mirembe, some of them in turn tend to refuse to cooperate with the hospital’s administration when their relatives recover.

“The phone numbers are there but they are not helpful. Some relatives promise to come pick up their brethren but they do not show up. We struggle within our capabilities to reach some of them physically but we cannot have them all,” he said.

Apart from the challenge of failure by some relatives to pick their patients, Mirembe is also grappling with insufficient building facilities to meet the rising number of patients.

“We government has been trying to work on this matter. For instance, we received Sh5 billion for renovation of the old hospital during the last fiscal year but it has only been achieved by 30 percent. There is a need for other stakeholders to support efforts to improve hospital services here’’ he said.

The hospital has only 45 mental health specialists who have to work on the rising number of people with mental health cases.

Member of Parliament for Iringa Urban Member of Parliament, Ms Jesca Msambatavangu, who is also an ambassador for mental health issues, said there was a reason for people to take the subject seriously for the betterment of the country’s economy.

“A person cannot work well in unstable mental health. Health experts explain that not every suicide problem is criminal. Sometimes, it is caused by mental health problems. The law should look at how these people who tried to commit suicide can receive treatment before they are sentenced to prison,” she said.

Inspector of Police Verediana Mlimba, the rise in the number of people who commit suicide was directly linked to mental health challenges.

“Cases of security personnel shooting themselves to death are increasing. This is due to the stress they go through out of our job pressure. There is a need to set up a special counseling unit to help members of the police force to deal with stress,” she said.

Against this background, there are people who have effectively undergone treatment and were now back to their normal income-generating activities as normally as they used to do before.

One of them is Ms Monica Isaya (38), who is now advising people who are found to have mental health problems to consider proper treatment. This includes adhering to the correct use of medicines given to them by professionals.

“I was diagnosed with mental health problems when I was in the form three after experiencing the shock of the death of a donor who was sponsoring my education. I was received at the hospital here and given treatment…Right now I have completely recovered and I am taking care of my three children and doing fine economically to the point of building my own house,” she said.

The head of the department clinical audit and quality assurance at Mirembe hospital, Dr Ninael Urio, urged the public to participate in the fight against mental health problems, saying it was everyone’s responsibility to do so.