{"id":14143,"date":"2020-09-10T17:26:20","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T17:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/kenya\/?p=14143"},"modified":"2020-09-10T17:26:20","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T17:26:20","slug":"congestion-forces-mathari-to-turn-away-sick-convicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/community\/congestion-forces-mathari-to-turn-away-sick-convicts","title":{"rendered":"Congestion forces Mathari to turn away sick convicts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Author:\u00a0Antony Gitonga<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> The country\u2019s largest mental institution, Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital has stopped admitting convicts with mental illness due to congestion.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, inmates and suspects requiring mental services will be incarcerated in prison cells.\u00a0The facility stopped admissions to allow social distancing following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.\u00a0The deputy medical superintendent, Victoria Wamukhoma, explained that only the forensic department where they admit mentally ill offenders had stopped admissions, but outpatient services for the public were available.<\/p>\n<p>Wamukhoma noted that they had around 500 patients in the two wings with 240 of them being inmates.\u00a0\u201cWe have 580 beds but we can only accommodate 500 due to the spacing requirements set by the ministry in dealing with the pandemic,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe forensic department where we admit mentally ill offenders is currently full and some patients are sharing beds and we, therefore, are unable to admit patients under the circumstances,\u201d reads a letter from the facility to the Prisons Department.<\/p>\n<p>In another letter written to the Department of Prisons, the medical superintendent in charge, Joseph Jumba, said they had stopped any new admission or transfer of patients.\u00a0\u201cWe have stopped forensic outpatient clinics, no new admissions or transfers and we shall have limited laboratory services for outpatient services,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-group readmore my-3\">\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\"><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A senior officer from the prison termed the development a major threat to inmates suffering from mental illness in correctional facilities across the country.<\/p>\n<p>The officer who declined to be named said the condition of some suspects was worsening due to lack of treatment, while others were a threat to themselves and other inmates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTens of suspects suffering from a mental breakdown cannot get medical treatment despite the court orders and this means they will have to stay longer in cells,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>In the latest case, Beatrice Mwende, a woman accused of killing her four children in Naivasha three months ago, is still locked up at Naivasha Prison despite a court order that she be admitted to the mental facility for treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Last month, High Court Judge Richard Mwongo ordered that Mwende be transferred to the mental institution for treatment before taking a plea.\u00a0The judge ordered that a report on her progress be presented in the court in two months.<\/p>\n<p>In July, the Cabinet approved a proposal by Nakuru County Government to take over Gilgil Mental Hospital.\u00a0The move followed a request by the county through the Ministry of Health to take over the facility due to\u00a0financial constraints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author:\u00a0Antony Gitonga AfricaPress-Kenya: The country\u2019s largest mental institution, Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital has stopped admitting convicts with mental illness due to congestion. As a result, inmates and suspects requiring mental services will be incarcerated in prison cells.\u00a0The facility stopped admissions to allow social distancing following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.\u00a0The deputy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,2111,8],"tags":[5604,4285,5605],"class_list":["post-14143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-coronavirus-in-kenya","category-homepage-english","tag-mathari-national-teaching-and-referral-hospital","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-wellness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Congestion forces Mathari to turn away sick convicts - 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