Bwaila mental ward goes ‘insane’

Psychiatric patients at Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe are often in a more insane environment than their relatives would hope for, Nation on Sunday can reveal.

Investigations the paper carried out recently have revealed pathetic conditions the patients are exposed to, with some sleeping on the floor due to shortage of beds in the ward, forcing the hospital to discharge them prematurely.

Nation on Sunday under cover tour of the facility this week made more disturbing discoveries.

Some patients, in their obvious insane state of the mind, were seen eating from a burst sewer that sources claim has been left unattended to for many months; leaving human excreta all over the place.

Our investigations show that in all seclusion rooms, violent patients can defecate and stay for days with fecal matter that develops into maggots.

It was also discovered that medical personnel were very concerned about the way things had degenerated in the psychiatric section and they were compiling a report that the section be closed, and that patients be transferred to Zomba Mental Hospital.

At one point, this reporter was shocked to see a patient fetching water spilling out of a blocked sewer pipe.

Asked if he knew about the inhuman conditions at the psychiatric section of the hospital, Minister of Health Peter Kumpalume nodded in the affirmative, saying he had been shocked by the pathetic scenes he witnessed during an impromptu tour to the facility a few days earlier.

“It is a sad situation. We are actually demolishing those structures soon, as they are very outdated and they have become inhabitable, so to speak. We care about all our citizens, regardless of their mental health status,” Kumpalume said.

He revealed that the psychiatric patients in Lilongwe would soon be transferred to Zomba Mental Hospital.

But Kumpalume added that the dilapidating structure in Lilongwe would immediately be replaced with a modern one that would be a referral facility in the Central Region.

Assistant director of clinical services responsible for mental health at the ministry, Michael Uledi, also confirmed the sad situation at Bwaila Mental Hospital and agreed with the minister on the need to demolish the structure as soon as possible.

According to Uledi, the department has just completed formulating guidelines of caring for mental patients at the hospital.

“By the time we start building the new structure, we will have a service agreement with St. John’s of God [in Mzuzu] that some patients shall be accommodated at their facility while others shall be transferred to Zomba, depending on conditions,” he said.

Meanwhile, as Malawi joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Health Day on April 7, Kumpalume disclosed that about 30 to 40 percent of Malawians that are admitted to the country’s hospitals suffer from depression, which is a common mental disorder that is a second leading cause of death in 15 to 29-yearolds.

This year’s World Health Day was commemorated under the theme ‘Depression: Let’s Talk’. The minister said government will do everything possible to create awareness of the depression conditions which need concerted preventive efforts from every Malawian.

A press statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression, which is a common mental disorder globally.

The statement appeals for a comprehensive and coordinated response to mental disorders at country level.