Patients starve at Ingutsheni

By Pamela Shumba

HEALTH and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa has expressed concern over acute food and medicine shortages at Ingutsheni Central Hospital in Bulawayo, saying the government was struggling to provide for the increasing number of patients at the institution.

The hospital does not charge patients for its services and the institution depends entirely on the government’s budgetary allocation for its recurrent expenditure and capital projects.

Hospital authorities have on several occasions appealed for donations from well-wishers to cater for the needs of patients at the institution.

The Health minister on Thursday said he was worried about the 600 patients at the institution and described their needs as urgent.

“I’m worried about Ingutsheni. It’s a national institution that doesn’t charge user-fees but there must be food for the patients. There’s a need for consistent supply of food and medication at this hospital and this is urgent,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

“There are 600 patients and 40 bags of mealie-meal are required every 10 days to feed the patients. The government needs to pay more attention to Ingutsheni and Ngomahuru, another mental institution in Masvingo.”

The minister said the patients require more food than those at other health institutions due to the medication they take.

He said there is a need for mental patients to eat proper food as that was also part of everyone’s basic human right.

“Eating nutritious food should be a prerequisite for everyone. These patients are supposed to be fed nutritious meals but financial challenges make it difficult for the institution to supply the required food. It creates an undesirable situation for the patients,” said Dr Parirenyatwa.

He said the government was unable to meet its obligations due to economic challenges and appealed to the private sector and other well-wishers to assist.

Dr Parirenyatwa said the mental health institution was also facing operational challenges due to the critical shortage of psychiatrists.

“The hospital was operating with one psychiatrist for many years. Now it has two but it needs eight.

“The shortage is adversely affecting the delivery of proper healthcare to the patients,” he said.

“Efforts are therefore being made to make sure that more psychiatrists are deployed to the hospital.”

The troubles facing the institution have been compounded by some of the patients who have since made the hospital their permanent home for various reasons.

Last year, Ingutsheni Central Hospital received $1.2 million dollars from the government against debts amounting to $1 million that had to be cleared.

Most institutions in Zimbabwe are faced with a shortage of resources due to the prevailing economic situation.

Recently, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) appealed for assistance due to food shortages in the country’s prisons.

The department was allocated a paltry $2.5 million against its needs amounting to $21 million. The Chronicle