The Zimpapers
news crew came face to face with this shocking reality during a visit to the
facility at Chinotimba Clinic.
The admission
of a juvenile of such a tender age has sent shockwaves through the small close
knit community, highlighting how the scourge of substance abuse is trapping
increasingly young victims.
Victoria Falls
Town Clerk, Mr Ronnie Dube, confirmed the child’s admission while providing an
update on the centre’s development.
“We have four
inmates that we are attending to, the youngest being eight years old,” he said.
“We anticipate
that as the word goes that we now have this kind of a facility, we will have a
number of inmates because of the problem that has besieged the country, which
is drug abuse,” he said.
Efforts to get further clinical details from
the District Medical Officer were unsuccessful.
The officials
at the centre declined to comment, stating that divulging specific information
about a patient would be a serious violation of professional ethics and patient
confidentiality.
The presence of
an eight-year-old in rehabilitation centre highlights the challenges the
country is facing and underscores the urgent need for robust preventative
community programmes to protect the nation’s youth.
Commenting on
this development, Ingutsheni Central Hospital Psychiatrist Registrar Dr
Loveness Ndebele said the abuse of drugs by young children was rampant and her
facility at times attends to children as young as seven years old.
“We have been
seeing children as young as seven years old being brought by their parents
after abusing drugs,” she said.
“There may be
underlying conditions or general impulsive nature of such age groups. So, when
you see them being admitted to such a centre it means there is now an
addiction, which we call dependence,” said Dr Ndebele
She explained
the standard medical response.
“According to
common practice, we have to assess for what we call 12 principles. But
generally, they might not know the harm of the drugs they are taking, what I
can refer to as no lucidity,” she said.
Emphasising the
path forward for the eight-year-old, she advocated for a comprehensive
strategy.
“For this
particular case, we need a multi-disciplinary approach where we involve social
workers and child psychologists so that he gets help. It could be a cry for
help,” she said.
Victoria Falls
Town Clerk, Mr Dube has praised the Government’s directive for local
authorities to establish such facilities, calling it a vital initiative.
“The drug
rehabilitation centre at Chinotimba Clinic is complete. We partnered the
Ministry of Health and Child Care and Government contributed ZWG1,8 million,”
he said. Herald
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