There was a time when i heard that the psychiatric unit of the RVTH was allocated a plot of land and this was to be sponsored by the government of Denmark. Maybe Sheikh Tijan kan shed more light to this. Matarr >From: Joe Sambou <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point >Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 21:00:21 +0000 > >---------------------- Information from the mail header >----------------------- >Sender: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list > <[log in to unmask]> >Poster: Joe Sambou <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Re: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point >------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >All, this story is among many many others in the Gambia. This is the >living >that a majority of Gambians experience daily. The rotten system is >grinding >to a halt. However, we can change that if we the people want to. Are we >willing to change our situation, that is the question. If so, our faith >rest in our very hands. > >Chi Jaama > >Joe > > > >From: Matarr Amadou Sallah <[log in to unmask]> > >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list > ><[log in to unmask]> > >To: [log in to unmask] > >Subject: Re: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point > >Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 07:29:25 +0200 > > > >Mo > >Thanks for this very important forward but honestly this doesnt surprise > >me. > >In 1999 when i was in the gambia i took a trip to Campama to see the > >working conditions down there. I am particularly interested in campama > >because since 1994 i have been working at a psychiatric hospital and for >14 > >years ihave been working with mentally retarded people. > >I was in shock when i visited Campama, i was shown round by one Sister > >Tamba, the only psychiatric nurse in the Gambia by then together with two > >Nigerian ladies who were there for just a short period of time. > >The living conditions in campama is the worst i have ever seen. It is the > >first time in my life i see two patients of the same diagnosis or of > >different diagnosis sharing a single bed. They sleep in sardine > >position(one head up and the other head down) They smell each others >feet. > >At the rehabilitation unit, everything was at a standstill due to lack of > >materials and tools. The patients were hanging around the big mango tree > >and > >some were just roaming about the backyard. > >If thing have been going according to plan i am sure they should be able >to > >produce their own furniture or repair the little they have. Some of the > >beds > >were three legged and the fourth was supported but cement blocks. > >When i came back to Norway after my holidays i contacted the boss at the > >hospital where i work and explain the whole situation to her and >expressed > >how desperately they needed help. Unfortunately there wasnt much to do > >because they have this agreement with the psychiatric hospital in st. > >Petersburg in Russia. > > > >I am at work now and i really have to go but i promise i will write more >on > >this topic > > > > > >Matarr > > > > > >>From: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]> > >>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list > >><[log in to unmask]> > >>To: [log in to unmask] > >>Subject: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point > >>Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 12:18:01 -0500 > >> > >>---------------------- Information from the mail header > >>----------------------- > >>Sender: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list > >> <[log in to unmask]> > >>Poster: Momodou Camara <[log in to unmask]> > >>Subject: FWD:Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point > >>------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> > >>Campama "Madness" Reaches Crisis Point > >> > >>The Independent (Banjul) > >>NEWS > >>July 2, 2004 > >>Posted to the web July 6, 2004 > >>Banjul > >> > >>Campama Psychiatry's dearth of medicinal drugs to treat its mentally > >>deranged patients has reached crisis point with violent inmates, being > >>allowed to leave the country's only mental home, which is at its wits' >end > >>in dealing with the chronic shortage. > >> > >>Fresh reports reaching The Independent midweek allude to the fact that >the > >>overwhelming majority of Campama inmates with varying degree of mental > >>imbalance have been released back to the community as Campama grapples > >>with > >>the chronically acute shortage of drugs to calm violent fits of >patients. > >>Reasons being ascribed for freeing the inmates include the chronic lack >of > >>medicines and what close relatives of some of the inmates called the > >>skeletal staff who have been "mentally and physically overstretched" to > >>look after over a hundred patients. According to these reports only a > >>handful of inmates are left in the mental home, whose personnel recently > >>made plaintive calls to the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital for the > >>provision of drugs to treat its neglected inmates. Due to the frequency >of > >>violence among inmates at Campama, the demand for nerve-calming drugs >has > >>been of permanent significance. > >> > >>"We understand and accept these reasons for these inmates being let out, > >>but imagine the danger these sick people pose to the society, women and > >>children especially. Many of these runaway Campama inmates can be seen > >>roaming our markets and other public places. Are we to sit and wait for > >>another disaster like the one which happened in Bakau, where two people > >>were killed by a mentally deranged man just months ago" a concerned > >>relative of one Campama inmate who wished to remain anonymous lamented. > >> > >>According to him, his brother who was mentally imbalanced had escaped >from > >>the Campama Psychiatric home months ago and was rehabilitated by his > >>family, since at the time he had not shown any propensity for violence >and > >>was not therefore an apparent threat to anyone. > >> > >>"However, recently he has been quite violent and dangerous even for his > >>own > >>relatives. He is capable of doing harm and we took him back to Campama >for > >>him to be readmitted. To our utter surprise, we were told that the only > >>mental home in the country no longer takes in patients. It left us > >>completely flabbergasted," he explained, lamentably adding; "many other > >>mentally disturbed patients have been allowed to leave the mental home > >>with > >>serious risks to society. Something must be done about it". > >> > >>He said the only positive response by the Department of State for Health > >>should be the requisitioning of medical materials and medicines, which > >>would see patients who have been allowed to rejoin society but still >with > >>mental deficiencies to be readmitted at the mental home. > >> > >>This development comes days after The Independent reported what it >called > >>the "cataclysmic" level to which the acute shortage of drugs to treat > >>patients at the Campama hospital has reached. This dreary situation had > >>prompted the psychiatric centre to stop admitting patients with advanced > >>stages of mental illnesses as the RVTH allegedly failed to respond > >>positively. > >> > >>Overwhelmed by the situation senior hospital staff thought the only > >>prudent > >>measure at their disposal was to suspend the admittance of more patients > >>at > >>the centre in the interim as they struggle to deal with the dearth in > >>drugs, which according to sources the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital >is > >>not in a position to provide. Sources claimed that the decision not to > >>admit patients was effected since May when the situation aggravated. > >> > >>A senior official at the psychiatric centre who wished to remain >anonymous > >>told The Independent that they had written to the RVTH management, > >>communicating to them their concerns over the chronic lack of drugs >there. > >>He said the dispatch had conveyed their request for the teaching >hospital > >>to supply the psychiatric centre with drugs to deal with mental cases in > >>the short term. The conditions in Campama are getting worse every day, > >>they > >>added. > >> > >>"A lot of patients are still being brought in although we are at pains >to > >>let the world know that little or no drugs are available to treat them, > >>and > >>we are facing problems to deal with them" he added. He also accused the > >>RVTH of being negligent about conditions at the Campama, with its > >>management team hardly even making routine inspections of the >psychiatric > >>centre, the only mental home in the country. "This can only amount to >the > >>fact that the RVTH does not care about what happens at the Campama" he > >>protested. > >> > >>Another anonymous Campama staff also decried the state of the food being > >>made available to inmates, which he described as "very poor and >unhygienic > >>diet". He said as a result patients hardly eat. The anonymous official > >>further revealed that even the beds of the hospital were full of bed >bugs, > >>which make it difficult for inmates to sleep. > >> > >>"When we informed the RVTH management about these things they were never > >>in > >>the habit of responding positively" he claimed, adding that the doors in > >>the hospital rooms are not in good shape, making it easy for people with > >>mental problems to slip out without the knowledge of the hospital > >>staff. "Two inmates were killed in motor traffic after they escaped from > >>the compound this way" he explained. > >> > >> > >> > >> > >>----------------------------------------------------------------------------= > >> > >>Copyright =A9 2004 The Independent. All rights reserved. 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