What happened to Kingsley Mpichi (real name withheld), 19 years old, between November 23 and 25, 2023 is still unknown.
He was found dead on the morning of Saturday, November 25 within the premises of Zomba Mental Hospital (ZMH) where he had gone in September last year to get treated.
At the time of his death, Mpichi’s condition had improved significantly he would be discharged soon. But he went out dead.
When clinicians called out his name on Thursday, November 23, for him to receive treatment, he was not available.
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“The clinicians called again his name on Friday, November 24. He was not available to receive treatment,” said a source.
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On Saturday morning, November 25, a colleague to Mpichi found his body lying in a drainage that separates two wards at the hospital.
Officials at the facility called the police. The law enforcers together with officials at the hospital ferried the body to Zomba Central Hospital’s mortuary where Mpichi’s relatives had gathered.
They later took the body to his home village, Mwenye, in Traditional Authority Likoswe in Chiradzulu District where he was buried.
Mpichi’s death marked a total of five deaths that have occurred at the facility in recent times.
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Allegations have been peddled about assault by members of staff being the cause of these deaths.
But spokesperson for the facility, Harry Kawiya, disputed this is the reason for the deaths.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Kawiya explained that there are indeed incidences where confrontations may occur among patients themselves or between patients and staff (mainly guards and nurses) or between patients with students under attachments.
He said these confrontations commonly happen when members of staff particularly the guards try to stop patients who want to escape.
“There are incidences that a member of staff wishes to stop a patient from escaping.
“When a client’s hormones reach these delusional or hallucination extents, he becomes violent, a situation that becomes challenging for security people to handle smoothly,” he said.
He said while these cases are not uncommon, they do not necessarily reach an extent of security officials beating up patients, although there are cases where a patient injures a member of staff.
As we went to press, another patient was lying in coma at Zomba Central Hospital.
Kawiya dismissed reports that he had been assaulted by members of staff, arguing the mental hospital does not have such evidence.
When Mpichi died, police instituted investigations that have led to the questioning of 18 members of staff at the facility.
The questioning happened in the same week Mpichi was laid to rest.
Cases of deaths that have been reported before have been connected to fellow patients assaulting their colleagues to deaths.
In July last year, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said it would initiate prosecutions of those suspects in connection with previous four deaths at the mental hospital.
DPP Masauko Chamkakala has since said there has been no prosecution yet on the cases.
“We didn’t have a formal report despite them being admitted at the mental institution. Last week, the court ordered for a fresh assessment for one file,” he said.
Chamkakala added that his office will wait for fresh mental assessment and an advice on whether the suspects are fit to stand trial or not.
“As you notice, the court ordered a re-assessment of the accused to determine if they are fit for trial. Until that is done, we can’t prosecute,” he said.
