adminLeonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) says its special health institutions are overcrowded as they’ve surpassed their holding capacity, a situation that needs urgent attention. ZPCS psychiatrist, Dr Patrick Mhaka, told a Magistrates Association of Zimbabwe annual general meeting which ended here yesterday that the country’s two special institutions at Chikurubi and Mlondolozi have a combined 465 patients against their holding capacity of 120 patients.
Mlondolozi, the only certified mental psychiatric centre situated at Khami Maximum Prison, has 196 patients against a carrying capacity of 50, while a centre opened at Chikurubi Maximum Prison houses 269 patients when it is meant for 70 patients.
Dr Mhaka said ZPCS was facing an imminent disaster due to overcrowding and urgent measures were needed to decongest the institutions.
He was part of a ZPCS team led by ZPCS deputy commissioner Rhodes Moyo to the MAZ annual general meeting on a mission to engage partners with a view to minimising admissions to the special institutions.
“There’re two special institutions namely Mlondolozi and Chikurubi. These cater for three categories of mental patients, criminal mental patients, detained patients and civil patients,” said Dr Mhaka.
Those referred to special institutions are regarded as patients and not prisoners, according to ZPCS, which has only one psychiatrist.
The prisons department wants courts to minimise the number of people they refer to special institutions as this was the major cause of overcrowding.
“From January to September, there’ve been 211 admissions and 201 discharges at Chikurubi. Most of these would’ve committed petty crimes while families also do not want to live with their mentally disturbed relatives.
“Some families don’t want to take back their relatives once they’re released, while the process of discharge is too long as patients require a social affidavit from their relatives before papers go to the Attorney General. These affidavits aren’t easy to process as patients come from different parts of the country,” said Dr Mhaka.
He said overcrowding leads to a shortage of clothing, medicines and increases the risk of epidemics.
“Some patients die because of diarrhoea and HIV/Aids as they can’t give informed consent to be tested. Some are also re-admitted because of a weak community psychiatric service.
“Lack of medication results in patients taking too long to stabilise while the Special Board and Mental Health Review Tribunal sits once or twice a year thereby delaying decisions,” added Dr Mhaka.
Instead of committing mentally challenged people to prisons, magistrates were told, such people can be referred to civil health institutions such as Ingutsheni Psychiatric Hospital, Harare Psychiatric Unit and Ngomahuru in Masvingo.
Magistrates invoked the Mental Health Act to commit mental patients as most of those referred only needed treatment and not imprisonment.
“The problem starts with relatives. They don’t want to live with mentally ill relatives. They provoke them and when they retaliate, they rush to the police and are resultantly taken to mental institutions,” said a magistrate.
The magistrates suggested a need to conscientise people that mental illness is tolerable while imploring government to review the process of discharging patients.
Chief magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe challenged the judicial officers to be responsible and apply the law.
“This issue is a great concern for me because I sit on one of those boards and I know their situation. We’ve been reminding each other about this, let’s exhaust all stages before we commit a person.
“Why are we sending them to mental institutions without proper papers? Let’s send people for mental examination for five days and demand reports which we can decide on while in our chambers, than just to send people to special institutions and cause congestion.
“I’m not saying release murderers, but let’s be responsible and weigh the case and law,” Guvamombe said.
Online Reporter