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Canditar Chapanduka, Chronicle Reporter

INGUTSHENI Central Hospital in Bulawayo has been hit by a staff exodus which is compromising service delivery.

This was said yesterday by the hospital’s principal officer Mrs Agnes Kambweba.

She said at some point they were losing eight members every month although the exodus has slowed down.

Mrs Kambweba said this during the donation of blankets and food at the hospital by the Institute of People Management Zimbabwe (IPMZ).

She said there are 678 patients admitted to the institution.

Mrs Kambweba said the institution is facing many challenges including a high staff-to-patient ratio.

“In the previous months we were losing specialised personnel in large numbers that is eight per month but currently the movement has slowed down because in the month of  August only one resigned. However, the replacement is the challenge,” she said. 

She said they also have a challenge training students since most experienced personnel left for greener pastures.

“We have a training school that trains students on mental health nursing and we need experienced personnel to supervise the students who are on training,” said Mrs Kambweba.

Mrs Kambweba said they are getting many drug abuse cases involving both men and women but the majority are the former.

 “Yesterday we admitted a 16-year-old boy abusing ‘skankie’ so we have a lot of patients,” she said.

 “We also got a number of suicidal cases in the hospital and we admit a number of them. Some of them are amongst the drug abusers who are suicidal. At the moment we have six males that are on suicidal observation that are on substance abuse and four females of which two of them are on substance abuse issues,” she said.

Mrs Kambweba commended the IPMZ for donating blankets saying that is one of their needs. She said their needs are as many as their patients.

“We have got challenges with resources that we need to look after the patients like food, medication and blankets but I appreciate the IPMZ for donating blankets. Family members who bring their relatives here tend not to look after them as they leave and go for a long time. This  becomes a challenge to the institution,” she said.

IPMZ executive director Mr Luckson Mupandawana said every year his organisation raises money that it donates to mental institutions in Zimbabwe and this year they decided to come to Bulawayo to assist Ingutsheni.

“We understand they’ve got challenges that range from skills and food among others so that’s what brought us to help with the little food and blankets that we have,” he said.

He said over the years the organisation has been doing repairs and painting health institutions and they erected a fence at Ingutsheni a few years ago.

 “As an organisation we mainly focus on mental health since the area is not much remembered when it comes to donations. However, as human resources we understand that we draw our people from communities so the institutions should be well equipped so that people find rehabilitation at a nice place because tomorrow it might be anyone. We will continue to work with the mental health institutions as long as we can,” he said. -@NomqheleC