adminMpumelelo Nyoni Chronicle Reporter
THE number of Bulawayo youths who have been admitted to Ingutsheni Central Hospital due to drug and substance abuse has more than doubled, figures released by the institution yesterday show. According to the statistics, among the mental patients that were admitted to the hospital last year, 53 of them were hospitalised due to drug abuse and the number went up to 107 from January to October this year.
Seventy percent of the mental patients who had abused drugs were from high density suburbs, especially Makokoba.
Leonard Mabandi, the hospital’s chief executive officer, attributed the increase in the number of youths abusing drugs to socio-economic problems.
He said youths were under pressure from the effects of unemployment, while others were weighed down by the burden of being breadwinners, hence they turned to drugs.
“It seems most of the clients are drawn from poor backgrounds and the locals come mostly from areas like Makokoba and other western suburbs. However, roughly about 30 percent are from well up families,” said Mabandi.
“Young men feel more pressure and stress from the socio-economic situation in the country as there’s high unemployment. Some have no jobs and spend their time wandering around, resulting in them abusing drugs.”
Mabandi said schoolchildren tend to move in groups and live in close proximity to each other, hence increasing the chances of drug abuse through peer pressure and not necessarily due to poverty.
He said there are more younger men who abuse drugs than females as young women tend to feel less pressure to provide for their families than men.
Mabandi said the other reason why there is an increase in drug and substance abuse in Zimbabwe is that the country has been turned into a market rather than a transit area for drugs as was the case previously.
“Previously, Zimbabwe was a transit for drug trafficking but due to dollarisation, it has become cheaper to buy these drugs,” he said.
“Cough mixtures such as “bronco” which are legal and bought over the counter in South Africa are now being smuggled into the country and youths are more willing to buy these drugs.”
Last week, the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said school children must visit mental hospitals to expose them to psychiatric patients who abuse drugs and alcohol as a way of showing them the effects of drug abuse.
The minister said as a result of the increase in cases, the government intends to resuscitate rehabilitation centres for drugs and alcohol abuse and increase community based mental health care.
Online Reporter