Africa-Press – Gambia. The National Assembly has adopted a report from its Gender Committee detailing troubling conditions at Tanka Tanka Psychiatric Hospital, the country’s sole public mental-health facility.
The findings follow the committee’s nationwide inspection of orphanages, rehabilitation centers, children’s homes, and the Juvenile Wing conducted from May 5 to 10, 2025.
Presenting the report to lawmakers, the committee’s vice chairperson, Hon. Fatou Cham, described Tanka Tanka as operating under severe strain, with only one social worker responsible for 85 patients at the time of the visit.
“Most concerning is that they have been operating without a functioning pharmacy,” Cham said. Medications, she noted, were being stored in the matron’s office. During the committee’s visit, staff were in the process of converting a dressing room into a temporary pharmacy.
The committee also found that patient records are maintained entirely by hand, and that while three classrooms are available, they remain unused despite many patients expressing a desire to resume their education. A request to the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education for assessment and support, Cham said, has gone unanswered.
The facility’s infrastructure was also found in disrepair. Several washing machines and dryers were out of service due to electrical problems, including heavy-duty machines still sitting idle because they cannot be moved from where they were delivered.
Compounding the challenges, a building that once housed male patients remains unrepaired after it was burned by a patient who attempted suicide. “The building is still not fixed, and its condition is creating major constraints for the facility,” the report noted.
Beyond these issues, the committee cited chronic shortages of staff, drugs, mattresses, mosquito nets, and security personnel. The hospital lacks an ambulance and becomes difficult to access during the rainy season due to poor road conditions. The report also highlighted the absence of an equipped pharmacy, inadequate classroom facilities, and what it described as interference from the Ministry in the hospital’s management.
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