Mulanje leads in mental health problems

Officials from Mulanje District Hospital say they are overwhelmed with an ever increasing number of mental cases in the district due to drug and alcohol abuse.

Psychiatric clinical officer for the hospital Harvey Mankhwala said the hospital treats 150 patients a week, out of which 15 are new cases every week, saying the situation is now getting out of hand.

He said there was need for a lasting solution on the drug and alcohol abuse.

This revelation comes barely days after Ombudsman Martha Chizuma Mwangonde told parliament to consider increasing the budget for mental health department in the ministry of Health from one per cent to five percent of the ministry budget due to increasing number of mental cases in the country.

But principal secretary in the ministry of Health Dan Namarika said it was not feasible to start increasing budgetary allocations due to diseases.

Meanwhile, Macoha and another NGO are running a community mental health project to care for those suffering from the disease and increase awareness on the disease.

Macoha official Justin Muyaba said the project is running at the district hospital, Mbiza health centre and Chinyama health centre all in Mulanje.

He said there was need to increase awareness on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

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