Villager takes Govt to court over Ngomahuru
CHENGETAI MURIMWA
A Masvingo West villager Tachiona Mharadza has filed an urgent chamber application at the Masvingo High Court to force the Ministry of Health and Child Care and two State-owned entities to restore water supplies at Ngomahuru Psychiatric Hospital.
In the application, Mharadza, who is being represented by Martin Mureri of Matutu and Mureri Legal Practitioners, says it is unacceptable that mental patients are having to bath in a nearby river due to a power failure which makes pumping of water to the institution impossible.
He cites the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) and the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) as respondents.
According to the application, the right to health of patients and the community was being seriously compromised in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and other diseases for more than 200 patients who are bathing in one source of water used by the community.
The applicant said the patients are put to great risk of drowning or being attacked by crocodiles. He averred that the community was at great risk as patients, who are supposed to be confined in an institution, are being daily released into the community without any safety measures being taken.
The water woes at Ngomahuru emanated from a transformer that was struck by lightning resulting in ZINWA failing to pump water to the institution.
Ngomahuru is one of the four psychiatric health institutions in Zimbabwe.
The crisis at the institution forced the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and other civil society organisations to intervene.
ZLHR lawyer, Martin Mureri, wrote a letter to ZINWA and ZETDC demanding the immediate restoration of water supplies at Ngomahuru Psychiatric Hospital.
“We warned ZINWA and ZETDC that failure to restore water supplies will leave us with no option but to take legal action against them without further notice. We emphasise that the obtaining situation at Ngomahuru is untenable and an affront to the dignity of the mental institution,” Martin Mureri said.
The Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe added their voice to the plight of mentally challenged patients at Ngomahuru Psychiatric Hospital.
“We raise alarm over the current situation at Ngomahuru Psychiatric Hospital in Masvingo. We are outraged by a report revealing water shortages at the institution for over a month now,” read the statement.
The women’s rights organisation said this is a humanitarian crisis which requires authorities to act swiftly and rapidly.
“We are outraged by the repeatedly demonstrated neglect of health institutions by our authorities. We therefore call on the government of Zimbabwe together with its line ministries and departments to immediately direct focus to the humanitarian crisis at Ngomahuru and execute its constitutionally charged duty to protect and promote the rights of citizens,” said the statement.
They said they want the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the Zimbabwe Gender Commission to intervene and launch an investigation into the persistent human rights crisis at the mental health institution.
A mental health advocate Jacob Ngwenya of Beat Non Communicable Diseases said Ngomahuru Psychiatric Hospital is in a state of disaster which needs to be declared.
“Mental health has been neglected in Zimbabwe given the way it is under-resourced. Covid-19 and mental Health worsen each other. They deserve the same attention,” Ngwenya said.
ZETDC, ZINWA and the Ministry of Health and Child Care had a 24 hours’ ultimatum to restore water. ZESA officials went to the institution on Tuesday but their efforts yielded nothing.
“We want to thank ZESA for their effort. They were here today (Tuesday) trying to fix the problem. But, they have installed a wrong meter resulting in ZINWA failing to pump water. They promised to come back to fix the problem,” said Dr Parirenyatwa Maramba, the medical superintendent at Ngomahuru Psychiatric Hospital.
