Light in
complexion and still looking sharp despite having difficulties speaking,
Headmaster (his real name known but protected), was brought into the
institution on August 29, 1974, by his parents who said he tended to wander
about aimlessly and sometimes being violent to anyone he came across.
That was the
last time he was in the company of his parents. Yet, according to hospital
staff, Headmaster’s records show that he is from Mzilikazi suburb in Bulawayo.
He is now the
longest-staying patient at the institution without any visitor after a
104-year-old immigrant worker who died in June last year spent 68 years.
The late
immigrant worker is still awaiting a pauper’s burial, eight months after his
death. His body is at the United Bulawayo Hospitals.
Saturday
Chronicle visited Ingutsheni Central Hospital this week and spoke to the
institution’s professional and friendly staff, led by the Clinical Director, Dr
Wellington Ranga.
The interview
was held at the hospital’s public relations office, led by Vongai Chimbindi
with Remekedzo Mufuka from the Department of Social Work, also present.
Dr Ranga said
there seems to be some stigma at being associated with Ingutsheni Hospital in
one way or the other.
“This is why we
even have taxis servicing the Mpilo and UBH routes but you never hear touts
calling out for passengers going to Ingutsheni. It’s because people somehow
don’t want to associate themselves with the institution yet it’s just a
hospital where unwell people get treated,” said Dr Ranga.
The news crew
was taken through the process of how a patient is admitted until discharged.
“People with
mental health challenges can’t be admitted on their own, their admission has to
be confirmed by other people who are independent from us.
“When you get a
mental health challenge, you don’t have insight into what will be happening to
you. So, most people with mental health issues deny that they have got a
problem,” said Dr Ranga.
“The patient
goes through what we call certification, where other independent people check
you, confirm, and concur that there is a mental health issue. This has to be
done at a different health facility, not here. A form is then completed, and
the people accompanying the patient have to also consent,” he added.
Dr Ranga said
the discharge process starts at the point of admission because someone has to
get the patient admitted and when one is set for discharge hospital staff check
who got them admitted so that they are informed about the impending discharge
and they come to the hospital to collect their relative.
“When the
patient goes home, it’s not a discharge straight away, there is a process we
call leave of absence, remember mental health issues are not predictable hence
we give patients the benefit of the doubt to go home and see if they can fit
into the environment so that relatives also assess and see if they are
comfortable. If there is a challenge, the patient can always be brought back,”
said Dr Ranga.
“As you
probably would know, when people come to Ingutsheni Hospital, it is the last
resort, they would have tried everything and their patience would have been
stretched to the limit.
“So, they come
with that mentality and that is what we get from a good number of people who
bring their relatives here and after
that, they vanish into thin air.”
Dr Ranga
emphasised that no one is released on their own, regardless of whether the
patient knows where they stay because some people would either give the wrong
contact details or choose not to come and collect their relatives who would
have been certified fit to go home.
In such
scenarios, he said staff from the Department of Social Work visit the concerned
relatives. However, there seems to be a stigma associated with any interaction
with Ingutsheni Hospital.
“Some patients
can give you the correct address and that is when the home visit comes in where
we do a home assessment and also try and understand why they came to ‘dump’
their relative at the hospital and sometimes why they didn’t visit the
patient,” he said. “What generally causes relatives not to come back is that
they don’t have insight into what the patient will be going through because, in
their minds, they will be still seeing someone who did horrible things, which
may even include rape or murder before they brought him to Ingutsheni Hospital.
Yet the person would have changed,” said Mufuka.
She said mental
illness can be like any other disease just as someone may get into a hospital
suffering from malaria but can’t be ill perpetually as they will be treated
hence the reason they came to the hospital. Chronicle
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