Neglected mental hospital needs help

 THE Laloki Psychiatric Hospital needs a major upgrade after years of neglect, the hospital’s chief executive officer Getzo Yamele says.

He said the country’s longest serving psychiatric institution and psychiatric referral hospital was facing many problems as it tried to provide health services to its patients.

He said the 80 beds were not enough for people seeking treatment, which was increasing.

“We cannot turn them back. We have drug shortage and they are very expensive,” Yamele said.

He said they paid between K120 and K130 for a packet of drugs.

Yamele and Laloki Day Care Clinic nursing manager Sister Cathy Mokoko said they depended on water carted to the hospital by Eda Ranu. They used water from bore holes for the toilets.

“We have only two tanks – one for the kitchen and one for the mental ward which are filled by water trucks.”

Mokoko said there was a shortage of drugs, staff accommodation, emergency trollies, basic medical drugs, transport and oxygen cylinders.

Yamele said Laloki operated under the Government’s hospital management system with a funding of K7.5 million. He said that was not enough to meet its operational costs.