The ‘giant prison’ at Mohlomi

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Some patients have been in the mental institution for 40 years, while another who was detained there since 1982 died in December 2022.
Instead of being an institution that promotes recovery, Mohlomi has become a “giant prison” where “inmates” are locked up with no prospects of a quick release.
That is a serious indictment on Lesotho.

It also raises serious questions about the sanctity of life and respect for people’s basic freedoms.
There are genuine fears that the dire conditions at Mohlomi make it extremely impossible for mental patients to recover due to the poor quality of care.
Some have come off worse when they stay at Mohlomi than they were when they were in correctional facilities.

The report says “under-resourcing of the facility in general and the lack of professional expertise had resulted in the systemic failures that perpetuate human rights abuses at the facility”.
We must hang our heads in shame as a people.

How we treat our mental patients reflects who we are as a people. And this is not who we are as Basotho.
The report is a vivid reminder that our systems as a government have largely collapsed. The lack of compassion and general insensitivity by government officials is staggering.

This is an institution that has suffered from decades of underfunding and neglect. What is happening at Mohlomi is a reflection of how we treat issues of mental health in Lesotho.
We see the same cavalier attitudes on the streets. People who should not be on the streets are just abandoned there, with no attempts by the government and social welfare officers to assist.

We have generally neglected mentally ill patients, insisting that they cannot be treated or that they are haunted. That is sad. That is because mental illness, like any other disease, can be effectively managed and treated.

The report is equally scathing at the Director of Clinical Services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Nyane Letsie. It says the Ministry of Health authorities “have failed Mohlomi”.
Two years after a local NGO, Partners in Health, requested a mental health policy framework, which was key to unlocking M300 million funding, the ministry has still not come up with the policy document.

Is that a question of incompetence or sabotage, or both?
A M300 million funding would do wonders for Mohlomi. That is precisely why we think something must be done to secure the funding.
It would help fix the blocked sewer system. It would ensure patients receive nutritious and health meals. It would also ensure patients have proper beds and enough entertainment facilities.

The current state of affairs has meant that patients have to fight over the little food available. They live in an extremely uncomfortable environment and are at greater risk of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.
Yet no one seems to care.

A year after the report was written, we doubt if there has been any changes at Mohlomi. There is a high possibility that nothing has changed, and things are as they were last year.
That perhaps vividly illustrates the cavalier attitude that we have always had towards the Ombudsman’s reports. We read these reports and shelve them. The Ombudsman’s recommendations are never implemented.
That must change.