HE first set his foot at Ingutsheni Central Hospital on July 13, 1952, after his employees at St Francis Home in Famona suburb complained that he had been displaying aggressive behaviour.
The workers only knew him as a farmer who stayed nearby,
selling vegetables on a daily basis. On getting to Ingutsheni, he was diagnosed
with psychotic disorder and was admitted into one of the wards.
As days went by, they realised that the man could only
communicate in Sena, a Bantu language spoken in Mozambique and that he did not
know his name or age.
Nurses at first would use the name “Unknown” on his medical
files until they named him Mujezi . To this date, Mujezi has been admitted to
the mental institution, and is the patient who has stayed there longest.
This year will be will his 70th year as a patient. His age
is not known. The saddest part about his story is that in all these years, he
has never been visited by anyone and authorities have failed to locate his
family or relatives.
He is part of about 650 Ingutsheni inmates who go for years
without support, visits and communication from family due to stigma.
Renowned psychiatrist and Ingutsheni clinical director Dr
Wellington Ranga said there are many other patients who have spent over 30
years at the institution without any communication from their families.
He said the institution can only nurse and care for the
mental patients although a majority should not be admitted as they are mentally
fit to be living with their families.
Dr Ranga said relatives dump their mentally ill and are not
willing to bury them when they die, forcing the hospital to conduct paupers’
burials.
“When it comes to stigma around mental health issues, I do
not think we will ever get to a stage where we say it’s over based on our home
setup nowadays.
Long ago people had higher chances of surviving mental
illnesses because we had extended family and no one was ever cast out as long
as they had a family, community or even a village they came from,” said Dr Ranga.
He said people had become so individualistic that they do
not care about the next person, especially if they develop a mental illness.
“Some people have been re-admitted five times as they fail
to connect with families who often neglect them after they are discharged and
they would rather live here and await their death under the care of our
healthcare workers.
We have noted with concern that it’s not only Mujezi who
has been here without a trace of family, but a lot more have reached old age
while awaiting visits from family who should take them in if we were living in
a normal world.
“Humans are social beings and those with mental illnesses
need social support and once trusted families and relatives fail to offer that,
then this institution becomes a safe place as they may easily relapse if taken
to environments where there is no love and tolerance,” Dr Ranga said.
He said although Mujezi understands what nurses say, he
cannot communicate. “We wonder where his family is as none of us was working here
when he was admitted.
We know that he didn’t have a name and nurses named him
Mujezi, but nothing is known about his origin or family and sadly he too
doesn’t know anything.
“We have tried communicating, but old age makes it
difficult for everyone, the least we can do is keep him happy and cared for and
hope for his long life,” said Dr Ranga.
“He is too old now and I doubt he even remembers anything
about his family since he speaks Sena. Despite old age he remains well and only
suffers from swelling of testicles which we treat by draining fluids once every
fortnight as he is too old to undergo surgery.”
He said there are a number of patients who were admitted to
the hospital before Independence who could have been discharged long back if
they had loving and supportive families.
He said stigma is also rife when they die as some openly
tell officials at Ingutsheni that they are not willing to spend money burying
mental patients.
“We once had an incident recently where a man had been here
for more than 20 years with no communication nor visit from the family until he
died. We tried reaching out while his body was at the United Bulawayo Hospitals
mortuary,” he said.
“After six months we had to authorise a pauper’s burial
like we do to many others whose families fail to come to claim them even after
they die. However, after a while, we got a visit from a big family with elderly
men saying they had come to claim the body.”
Dr Ranga said the family of the deceased said a traditional
healer had instructed them to collect the body for them to have peace and
prosperity in the family.
“Honestly, I didn’t want to entertain their story knowing
for all those years they had neglected their relative because he was a mental
patient.
We eventually authorised that they exhume his remains and
take them back home as they claimed his soul was ‘tormenting’ them,” he said.
Males account for 60 percent of inmates at Ingutsheni.
“We also have inmates who are brought here after abusing
drugs and they end up staying here for a longer period as they cannot fit in
modern families.
These days children go to school, then college and then
start working and if one cannot fit into that order, they can easily find
themselves admitted here for this or that mental illness,” he said.
“A majority of our patients are males maybe because they
bear most of the burdens and many fail to cope given the prevailing economic
challenges which are stressful even to employed members of the public.”
Dr Ranga added that public institutions live off Government
funds and sometimes face challenges in providing for all needs.
“We try to provide basics, but I am not saying we do not
help. People are free to help us in every possible way so that we keep our
inmates happier and healthier, because they too deserve to lead normal lives
like all of us,” he added. Chronicle
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