PATIENTS at Ingutsheni Mental Hospital in Bulawayo have been hit by scurvy – a disease common in the 18th century – due to a poor diet as serious cash constraints affect food supplies at the central hospital.

Scurvy is a disease caused by constantly eating meals that lack vitamin C. Affected patients develop anaemia, debility, exhaustion, swelling in some parts of the body and sometimes ulceration of the gums as well as loss of teeth.

The minister of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees Tshinga Dube confirmed the outbreak in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com,

“The situation at Ingutsheni is desperate. Patients there have not had beef for some time. They are always fed with boiled vegetables with no cooking oil and, as a result, the patients have become malnourished,” said Dube.

The minister said during the Christmas holiday, he was forced to donate meat to the mental health centre after being touched by what he saw during a visit.

“During the festive season, I was forced to slaughter a beast and donate part of it to the hospital.

“I had visited the hospital and was touched with what I saw there.”

The minister also revealed that the referral centre is also facing an acute shortage of drugs.

The hospital, which entirely relies on government funding, has been hard hit by insufficient budgetary allocations and forced to depend on well-wishers to finance its operations.

Between 400 to 600 patients are accommodated at the hospital at any given time.