Drug and substance abuse patients overcrowd Ingutsheni Mental Hospital

Bulawayo (New Ziana)-The mental health referral institution for Bulawayo province, Ingutsheni Central Hospital, has recorded an increase in patients admitted with drug and substance-related problems resulting in its awards being overcrowded, an official has said.

Speaking at the launch of the cycling campaign against drug and substance abuse, Ingutsheni chief medical officer Nemache Mawere said their biggest challenge at the moment is overcrowding by patients with drug and substance-related problems.

“There is a problem of overcrowding as we speak, one of our biggest wards, Khumalo, is supposed to carry 98 patients but as we speak we have 150 to 200 patients at any given time,” he said.

Also the largest psychiatric hospital in the country, Ingutsheni has 700 beds.

Mawere said the most abused drugs include crystal meth, commonly known as mutoriro, and illicit alcohol varieties such as mukozodo, njengu, tumbwa, and others.

“People are abusing alcohol in a big way. There is also a problem of cannabis which people are using and getting mentally disturbed,” he said, adding the government was playing an important role in curbing the menace throughout the country.

He said since Engutsheni was not a rehabilitation unit, they were pushing strongly to ensure communities start taking care of people with drug use problems.

“Ingutsheni is not a rehabilitation centre but we are operating like a rehabilitation unit because it’s the only place where people can go when they have drug use problems.

“We are pushing to ensure communities start taking care of people with drug use problems. We hope we will win this fight through working together as Zimbabweans to make sure we eliminate this problem,” he said.

Mawere said another major challenge was that when patients are treated and get back to their communities, they start abusing substances and drugs again.

“We have the same people getting in and out of the hospital with the same problem. We need to stop that cycle and make sure we take charge of the communities.

“We should also start teaching children from the Early Childhood Development (ECD) stage about the challenges of drug abuse so that we eliminate the culture when they are still young. We are going to lose a generation due to drug and substance abuse. We thought we have won the war against HIV and AIDS but with this challenge, we have to put in place measures to curb this menace,” said Mawere.

The Zimbabwe government has established a national task force on Drug and Substance Abuse which has been replicated in provinces and districts across the country to coordinate the response to the scourge.

New Ziana