Mentally ill persons in Butabika hospital bear scars of mistreatment meted out on them by their relatives and communities in an effort to restrain them and deliver them to the hospital.
It’s rare to find a patient at Uganda’s National mental referral hospital without an open wound caused by ropes, fire burns, multiple facial injuries, human bites and dental injuries among others. Some of the patients are hit with blunt objects in the name of restraining them.
The Deputy Executive Director of Butabika hospital, Dr. David Basangwa, blames this on the misconception that mentally sick people are violent and aggressive.
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Dr. Basangwa says the public’s reaction tends to be aggressive; they rough up the patients, tie them with ropes and in extreme cases chain them.
Dr. Basangwa, however, says scientifically mentally sick patients are not violent as people believe but the violence results from mishandling. He says in communities they are labeled by the way they dress, behave or talk with derogatory names like mawaya and zonto.
He says this treatment makes mentally sick people uncomfortable and when force is applied they react with force.
Dr. Basangwa says if calmly approached, the mentally sick can equally be calm and approachable. He says this is why doctors just talk to them adding that one would wonder how four nurses could control a ward with one hundred patients.
Dr. Basangwa says because of this kind of treatment, the hospital discourages bringing patients on ropes and when brought the hospital would request the attendant to untie the person.
Dr. Basangwa notes that because of ill treatment even their support staff has been taught how to handle mentally sick patients, adding that that the hospital has replaced Askaris with batons with staff specially trained to talk to the patients.
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Dr. Basangwa says Butabika is collaborating with East London Health Trust on how to manage mentally sick patients. He says one way to manage these patients is medical, where they are injected with drugs and the patient is restrained in a side room until they calm down.
Dr. Basangwa further says the best way to restrain patients would be to assign three nurses to a patient but in a country like Uganda where there are three nurses for an entire ward that’s a far cry.
He argues that the hospital usually treats the patients by dressing the wounds and use of anti-biotics to contain infections.
Dr. Basangwa appealed to communities to endeavor to restrain themselves when handling people with mental problems.
