Drug and substance abuse has been attributed to the growing
number of mental health related illnesses in the country. Bulawayo is facing a
growing challenge of drug and substance abuse among its young with statistics
indicating that Ingutsheni Central Hospital attends to at least 250 patients a
month.
Lately, Zimbabwe has been experiencing an upsurge in drug
abuse cases and most of those abusing the drugs are young people.
Against this background, Government has directed that all
efforts must be made to address the supply of drugs.
President Mnangagwa, on National Youth Day in February,
declared war against the menace and also announced the setting up of a fund to
fight drug abuse. He also launched the National Anti-Drug and Substance Abuse
Campaign.
In an interview yesterday, ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses
Chihobvu said prison and correctional facilities are overwhelmed with an
increasing number of mental health patients.
The ZPCS’ major mental health institutions are Mlondolozi
at Khami Prisons in Bulawayo and Chikurubi Psychiatric Unit at Chikurubi
Maximum Security Prison in Harare.
“The increasing number of mental health patients in our
prisons is a cause for concern. Although we have a special board and mental
tribunal board sitting to assess such people, they are actually doing it at a
slow pace,” he said.
“The inmates’ fate lies in the hands of the mental tribunal
board, as they are not eligible for amnesty in the absence of intensive
assessment.”
There are fears that a number of the inmates with mental
illnesses might end up relapsing without hope of being released.
Comm-Gen Chihobvu said the swelling number of inmates is
now straining the facilities and creating congestion.
“We want these patients to be determined by the board as
soon as possible because the number of patients continues to increase, which is
now a worrying trend and our facilities are now strained. We are looking after
around 900 patients in our prisons and in Harare alone at Chikurubi Maximum
Prison we have 500 patients yet the carrying capacity is 150,” he said.
“The tribunal should take us seriously when it comes to
this issue of mental patients.”
The mental tribunal board which has the mandate to
determine the release of these inmates through fitness evaluation, has been
delaying sitting resulting in congestion at prisons as the numbers continue
ballooning.
Section 68 of the Mental Health Act provides for the
establishment of mental health hospital boards. The board of the institution is
the first port of call where one’s case is reviewed for possible release.
If satisfied that the patient can be released, it makes the
necessary recommendations to the tribunal.
When the tribunal sits, it considers a patient’s case and
then makes a final decision on whether to release the patient or order further
detention.
Ms Netsai Matindike, a forensic psychiatric nurse (FPN) at
Mlondolozi Mental Health Institution said there are 310 inmates who have been
locked up at the facility awaiting competence evaluation by the mental tribunal
board.
“Currently, we have 300 males, 10 females at Mlondolozi and
we are preparing for a special board that will be coming this week. Last year,
the tribunal sat twice while the special board sat four times and by so doing,
we managed to release 120 patients,” she said.
Among those released last year include Ms Lesion Siziba,
who had spent almost a decade at the institution awaiting competence evaluation
by the mental tribunal board.
In 2020, Ms Siziba approached the Bulawayo Hight Court
challenging her “unjustified” detention.
Ms Siziba committed infanticide in 2004 after suffering
from post-natal depression.
In her court application citing VP Chiwenga, in his
capacity as Health and Child Care Minister, Ms Siziba argued that she had
recovered and now eligible for release. She sought an order compelling VP
Chiwenga to set up a mental health board at the institution to review her
condition for possible release.
Ms Matindike said 118 mental patients kept at the prison
have since recovered and now eligible for release and reintegration into
society.
“We are expecting both the special and tribunal boards, to
release about 116 males and two females who are due. We are busy preparing for
the special board. The patients are responding well to our treatment and most
of them are now mentally stable except for the newly admitted ones who still
need time to be treated,” she said. Chronicle
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