Port Reitz Mental hospital discharges 20 patients

At least 20 patients suffering from mental disorders have been forcibly discharged from Port Reitz Mental Hospital after its nurses joined the nationwide strike.

Others seeking outpatient services were also turned away.

Port Reitz Mental Hospital serves Kilifi, Kwale, Tana River, Taita-Taveta and Mombasa counties.

Most of the patients suffering from mental disorders seek clinical services, injections and medications at the hospital.

‘But those who come from outside Mombasa are normally admitted. Their conditions are desperate - they might relapse due to lack of medical services,” said a striking nurse, who sought anonymity.

SECOND LARGEST

The hospital's Mental Health and Substance Abuse department is the second-largest mental health institution in Kenya after Mathari Mental Hospital in Nairobi.

The hospital has only one psychiatrist, who also attends to drug-abuse patients at Coast Provincial General Hospital.

“The psychiatrist comes to attend to patients once per week,” said a nurse at the hospital.

The hospital has less than 20 workers against a maximum number of 40 inpatients and around 60 outpatients.

But county health executive Binti Omar told the Nation the county was addressing the woes at the mental department.

BROKEN DOWN

“We are looking at ways to employ more staff,” said Ms Omar.

A hospital source revealed to the Nation that patients had been discharged and their relatives called to pick them up.

“We were told to bring them back when the strike is called off,” said a parent who had come to pick up her daughter.

She said she was worried her child’s condition could worsen due to lack of medical attention.

Meanwhile, the X-ray machine at the hospital broke down two weeks, paralysing services even before the nurses' strike started.

PRIVATE HOSPITALS

Patients who need the services are now forced to go to private hospitals.

“The breakdown of the machines comes at a time when a new private X-ray clinic has been opened outside the public hospital,” said a doctor working at the hospital, who requested anonymity because he is not authorised to talk to the news media.

Port Reitz charges Sh400 for an X-ray but private hospitals in Mombasa west charge double the amount.

“The dangers of lacking the X-ray machine is misdiagnosis. The orthopaedic department can’t operate without the X-ray services,” added another doctor.