Sierra Leone News: Matron Calls for Strengthening of Human Resource of Psychiatric Hospital
By Ibrahim s Bangura
Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital in Freetown needs psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses and security guards for an effective management of the hospital, the matron of the hospital said Monday.
Mr. Anniru K. Brima said that they have 69 staff working at the hospital including 42 staff nurses, 18 kitchen staff, four supporting staff, two maintenance staff and three security guards.
“The current number of staff is not commensurate to the number of patients we are receiving per day,” he said.
Mr. Brima said that they sometimes receive more than 20 patients per day, adding that on Monday September 9, they received 75 patients.
The matron pointed out that, due to the increasing number of people with mental illness in the hospital, patients sometimes escape through the fence and start roaming about in the streets. “The security guards are not enough to man the hospital. We only have three security guards in this entire hospital, and they are not sufficient to look after all the patients here,” Brima said.
He added, “I am aware of the misbehavior of lunatics in the street because we have been receiving many complaints from residents in Freetown about the damages caused by lunatics in the street.”
Matron Brima called on the government and other stakeholders to increase the number of nurses and security guards at the hospital, so that they will be able to handle those lunatics that may want to escape.
He disclosed that most of the patients become mad as a result of drugs abuse. He called on government to curtail the spread and use of dangerous drugs to minimize the number of patients admitted per day.
A nurse at psychiatric hospital, Mrs. Mariama Kamara said that they admit patient according to their conditions. “We admit only patients who have severe mental disorder,” she said, adding that those with less severe condition are treated within their various communities.
She added that they are caring for patients in their homes to minimize overcrowding at the hospital.
