Psychiatric scare in Zomba City
People in Zomba City are living in fear due to high presence of mentally-challenged people who forcibly beg for money in the city.
Zomba is home to the country’s main psychiatric (mental) hospital.
Eastern Region Police assistant spokesperson Autilia Kumanga said it has been about five years now since the Zomba Mental Hospital wrote police to conduct a sweeping exercise to rid the city’s streets of mentally-challenged persons.
However, facilitators for the exercise code-named Operation Dongosolo, Zomba Mental Hospital, through acting director for the department McEvance Phiri, refused to comment on the issue.
Previously, the exercise was undertaken in conjunction with Malawi Police Service and the city council.
During the 2013 mental conference, which attracted participants from countries in the South Eastern Africa, Zomba Mental Hospital emphasised the need to conduct the exercise with an immediate response.
