Patients hospitalised in the male ward of the Rundu State Hospital have expressed concern over having to share the area with close to 20 psychiatric patients owing to the lack of a proper facility to cater for the latter.

The patients, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of victimisation, bemoaned to this agency on Monday that Rundu is the town with the second highest population in the country and thus its State hospital deserves to have a facility that can house psychiatric patients.

“If the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) cannot build a mental health facility at Rundu, then at least they need to expand the hospital and build a separate mental health department where these patients will be treated,” one patient complained.

They said because the town has a large population, social ills are also on the increase in the northeastern town and that some of the psychiatric patients are hospitalized due to drug or substance abuse, which poses a threat to the other patients.

“The youth find solace in these substances and in the long run their mental health suffers. The ward is now full of these patients and we feel the ministry is working at a snail’s pace to prioritise such issues. Issues like these should not be viewed as just normal,” another concerned patient said.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency