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Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
ZIMBABWE’s public hospitals are operating with a 67 percent shortage of staff which cripples service delivery especially to mental health patients, an official has said.

Ingutsheni Central Hospital chief executive officer Mr Tichafa Munyawu said there was a need for the Ministry of Health and Child Care to invest in mental health as a number of Zimbabweans are slowly succumbing to mental conditions like depression.

“The World Health Organisation has noted with concern that institutions in Southern and Eastern Africa have an acute shortage of human resources. In 2010 the WHO came up with a code of conduct which emphasised the need to have professionals from First World countries train third world country staff,” he said.

“WHO recommends that per 1 000 people, there should be at least 2,3 doctors in a normal set up. However, at the moment we are operating with just 0,8 which is a third of doctors and specialists that are needed for us to operate smoothly.”

Mr Munyawu said there were about 2 400 out-patients being treated monthly at Ingutsheni Central Hospital and the number was growing steadily. He said the hospital should employ 801 members of staff but only has 734 which exclude the much needed psychiatrists.

This comes at a time when the country only has 17 psychiatrists in total and only two of those operate from Bulawayo at Ingutsheni Central Hospital.

Mpilo Central Hospital clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya recently said most mental patients were suffering in their homes with no chances of diagnosis due to a shortage of specialists.

“The last I checked we had two psychiatrists who are serving at Ingutsheni and other psychiatric institutions in the region. This means we have lots of patients who are suffering with no one to diagnose and it explains why we have an increase in suicide and gruesome murders,” said Dr Ngwenya.

He said the hospital which caters for five provinces in the western region can only stabilise such patients before referring them to Ingutsheni Hospital. “We need more trained personnel to help our people deal with depression and other issues. Our lives have resulted in many people suffering from depression and it is the reason we have lots of suicide cases in our communities,” added Dr Ngwenya.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care launched mental health discharge guidelines last year in April that seek to reduce the number of patients who relapse after being discharged due to lack of healthcare and support systems.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), depression, a prevalent mental condition, is also the leading cause of disability in the world. — @thamamoe.