At least 90 per cent of Ingutsheni Central Hospital patients suffer from drug and substance abuse-induced mental conditions, it has emerged.
Speaking during a drug and substance abuse campaign held in Bulawayo on Saturday, Ingutsheni Hospital representative Davison Samanyanga said the majority of the patients are victims of alcohol, drug and substance abuse. He said (via <a href="https://newsday.co.zw/southerneye/local/article/200028152/drug-abusers-congest-ingutsheni-hospital">Southern Eye</a>):
<blockquote>
If you look at our admitting ward, you will see that there are almost 100 to 150 persons who are staying there and 90% of those are drug-related cases, hence this shows the magnitude of the problem of drug and substance abuse.
The treatment of those affected, of those addicted to drugs and substances is not an easy journey.
In the treatment of drug and substance abuse, there are so many players who take part. We have psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists and doctors. As I have mentioned, it is not an easy journey.
</blockquote>
Samanyanga urged youths to shun drugs and other illegal intoxicating substances which lead to addiction and mental illnesses. He said:
<blockquote>
For rehabilitation, we are saying people deserve a chance. After being seen by all those professionals, they really need a chance.
They need to be equipped and imparted with the correct skills so that when they come back to the community, they know how to live, and how to conquer those challenges which they might have faced, which might have led them to drugs.
For the youth out there, don’t throw away your life for the sake of a few hours of fun.
</blockquote>
Commonly abused drugs in Zimbabwe include alcohol, cannabis (mbanje/marijuana), crystal meth (mutoriro), heroin, and glue.
More: <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">Pindula News</a>

Pindula News

Drug Abusers Congest Mental Health Institutions In Zimbabwe

<a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/Ingutsheni_Hospital/">Ingutsheni Central Hospital</a>, a psychiatric institution in Bulawayo, has reported that it has admitted more patients than it can accommodate.
The hospital’s CEO, Dr. Nemache Mawere, made the revelation during the World Mental Health Day event held at the hospital. <a href="https://www.chronicle.co.zw/mental-patients-flood-ingutsheni-central-hospital/">The Chronicle</a> cites Dr Mawere as saying:
<blockquote>
Our number changes each day and we currently have about 650 patients. However, our wards are overwhelmed as we have more patients against our carrying capacity. The Khumalo ward has 180 patients against 76 bed and the forensic ward has 70 patients against 60 beds.
</blockquote>
He added that the institution faces challenges with families that do not support their relatives and the hospital is constantly doing follow-ups and engagements to ensure that patients get support.
Without revealing the main cause of the health conditions, Dr Mawere said men remain a majority among mental patients. 
According to Dr. Wellington Ranga, the clinical director of Ingutsheni Central Hospital, many outpatients are referred from other healthcare facilities. The most prevalent illness among patients at Ingutsheni is schizophrenia. However, Dr. Ranga noted that depression and anxiety are the most common mental illnesses affecting Zimbabweans overall. They have observed an increasing number of patients attending their outpatient services.
Dr. Ranga <a href="http://www.fastep.co.zw/media/news/drug-abuse-mental-illness-youth-behaviour-worries-hospital">acknowledges the impact of drug abuse</a> on young people and communities. He believes that addressing this issue requires a comprehensive approach. He pointed out that many boys in high schools are smoking marijuana, but society often fails to take action and it’s only when a boy becomes mentally ill and is admitted to Ingutsheni Hospital that parents start to question why it happened. Dr. Ranga also highlights the misconceptions surrounding mental health and how society views Ingutsheni Hospital. He emphasised the need for a more informed and open-minded approach to discussing mental health issues.
Established in 1907, Ingutsheni Central Hospital has a capacity of 708 beds, making it the sixth-largest hospital in Zimbabwe and a major mental health training institution in Africa.
<h3><a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/">More Pindula News</a></h3>

Ingutsheni Central Hospital Overwhelmed As Patients Exceed Capacity

Ingutsheni Central Hospital, located in Bulawayo, has run out of food provisions and detergents.
According to a letter dated 13 December 2022, and addressed to the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Manuwere, said they were in a crisis. Part of the letter reads:
<blockquote>
Due to current Budgetary constraints, the Hospital is now besieged with overwhelming problems such as a lack of food provisions, particularly mealie meal and cooking oil of which our stocks are currently fully diminished. .
As from Tuesday, the 13th of December 2022 there will be completely no mealie meal and cooking oil to feed the patients. We are in a crisis.
We are therefore urgently appealing through your office for urgent assistance.
Your urgent assistance in this pertinent matter is most welcome.
</blockquote>
Recent reports had suggested that there was a food crisis and an outbreak of pellagra at Ingutsheni Central Hospital but the authorities flatly denied the reports.

Ingutsheni Hospital Runs Out Of Food Provisions

The Bulawayo High Court has ordered President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy, Constantino Chiwenga to urgently appoint a special mental health board and tribunal respectively for Mlondolozi Mental Health Institute and other mental health institutions across the country.
This was after four inmates at Mlondolozi Mental Health Institute at Khami Prison Complex in Bulawayo — Simanga Sibanda, Descent Ncube, Siphethangani Ndebele and Lousinonh Siziba — filed an application seeking an order compelling Mnangagwa and Chiwenga to constitute the special mental health board.
Chiwenga was cited as a respondent in his official capacity as Health minister.
The quartet, through their lawyer Godfrey Nyoni, argued that due to the absence of the special mental health board, inmates were being held for an indefinite period, a development they said was illegal.
They argued that the board and tribunal periodically review inmates’ cases.
Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Evangelista Kabasa last week ruled: 
<blockquote>
Second respondent (Mnangagwa) be and is hereby ordered within 30 days of this order being served on him to constitute and appoint the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the mental health review tribunal in line with the provisions of section 75(1)(a) and (b) of the Mental Health Act Chapter 15:12.
First respondent (Chiwenga) be and is hereby ordered to immediately and in any event, within 14 days after appointment of the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the tribunal to appoint other members of the tribunal as provided for in section 75(1)(c) of the Mental Health Act Chapter 15:12.
</blockquote>
Sibanda said he was arrested for rape, attempted rape and unlawful entry in 2010 and during the trial, he was examined by two doctors and a psychiatrist who concluded that he had a mental problem.
In March 2012, he was further detailed at Mlondolozi and a year later, a tribunal recommended his further detention.
In 2016, a tribunal recommended that he be released to Ingutsheni Hospital. The tribunal never sat again to consider his cases.
Ncube, Ndebele and Siziba said they were all arrested for murder, but medical examinations showed they had mental health problems adding that they had remained in detention because there was no authority to review their cases.
More: <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2021/09/court-orders-appointment-of-mental-health-board/">NewsDay</a>

High Court Orders Government To Urgently Appoint Health Board

Nurses at Bulawayo’s Ingutsheni Hospital are reportedly walking to and from work because there is no transport to ferry them back and forth, the Daily News reports.
The matter came to light when the Ingutsheni Hospital acting CEO Nemache Mawere told touring health minister VP Constantino Chiwenga that:
<blockquote>We need more vehicles for our nurses. Sometimes when our nurses finish work, it’s always difficult for them to go home, but they continue coming to work even deciding to walk from town to here.</blockquote>
In response, Vice President Chiwenga promised the mental health institution staff that the ministry would allocate more busses to them and said:
<blockquote>
As we go back to Harare, I think in our kit we have some money, we shall provide you with buses for Ingutsheni Hospital Let’s provide these for the hospitals, but the first priority is the buses must come here then go to Mpilo Central Hospital and United Bulawayo Hospitals. Those buses will have to be bought. God forbid, we want those buses to be here by the end of this year.
When we go back to Harare, the minister of Transport will have to work with BCC. He should just make sure that roads are fixed and tarred. We have agencies such as the Zimbabwe National Road Administration, which can come and do that piece of road. Let’s make it a better place to live. 
</blockquote>
Another promise to the hospital staff was made by the local government minister July Moyo who was on tour with VP Chiwenga who also said:
<blockquote>I will talk to Zupco to allocate a bus for staff here. This hospital is outside town, as for the road I will discuss the issue with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to do something, I’m sure the minister of State (for Provincial Affairs and Devolution in Bulawayo, Judith Ncube) will also do the same</blockquote>
More: <a href="https://dailynews.co.zw/byo-nurses-walk-to-work/">Daily News </a>

Ingutsheni Hospital Nurses Walking To Work - Report

President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday donated 2000 tonnes of coal to 5 hospitals in Matabeleland to be used by the hospitals for cooking and any other hospital operations which might require the use of coal, The Herald reports.
The donation was handed over by Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Richard Moyo who said:
<blockquote>It is my hope that this gesture by His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa is an assurance of the commitment by the New Dispensation to see efficiency in the health service delivery. I call upon all of us to take our collective responsibilities as hard-working people to achieve that.</blockquote>
While receiving the donation, Mpilo Hospital, which was one of the donation beneficiaries, CEO Dr Solwayo Ngwenya thanked the government and said coal is vital to their functions as a hospital:
<blockquote>
Coal is quite a vital component of our function as a hospital and this will last us for the whole year. Coal is a life-saving commodity and we are grateful as we used to buy it from afar, we have been saved by the President.
Coal is vital in our operation as we use it for cooking, heating and running our laundry that we use for emergency operations. So, without coal the hospital can be crippled, operations can be suspended putting lives of people at risk hence coal is a vital commodity.
</blockquote>
Here are the beneficiaries of the president’s donation according to the publication:
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Mpilo Central Hospital 800 tonnes</li>
<li>Victoria Falls Hospital 400 tonnes</li>
<li>St Luke’s Hospital 400 tonnes</li>
<li>United Bulawayo Hospitals 200 tonnes</li>
<li>Ingutsheni Central Hospital 200 tonnes</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
More: <a href="https://www.herald.co.zw/2-000t-coal-for-5-mat-hospitals/">The Herald </a>

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