Why mental health patients fear Butabika
Patients at Butabika National Mental Referral Hospital are being subjected to torture and unnecessary use of chemical restraint, a new report has revealed.
What you need to know:
- Dr Agaba tasked journalists to create awareness about Butabika Hospital because according to him, the antidote is knowledge
Dr Denis Agaba, a psychiatrist at the College of Health Sciences at Makerere University, has said negative information and stereotypes about Butabika Hospital is discouraging patients from seeking help.
Speaking at an event in commemoration of the mental health month in Kampala on Saturday, Dr Agaba said such myths must be demystified.
“People fear Butabika out of ignorance because we have different myths attached to Butabika. Things like you know, whoever goes there has lost their rightful mind. These are lies” said Dr Agaba.
Adding: “So, when people don’t know something, they are definitely going to be afraid of it. Also because of maybe the stories they have heard from some people who claim to have been there or maybe some people who were there and had a negative experience will probably come out and share. Lies spread fast.”
He said people will always paint a negative image of the facility yet it also comes with good things.
“So, because of the negative information that has gone out about Butabika or most mental health facilities, people will then have a negative attitude towards it.”
Asked about the negative experiences, he said: “Everyone’s experience is different so I wouldn’t say that they are negative experiences because it’s a hospital so they get treated.”
The event was organised under the theme, the effective use of media for mental health awareness.
Dr Agaba tasked journalists to create awareness about Butabika Hospital because according to him, the antidote is knowledge.
“We need to listen to people who are actually in there and debunk the myths. One thing I recommend, visit the place,” he said.
One of the journalists, Ms Hellen Kabahukya, shared her experience after she received therapy at the facility.
She said she thought Butabika was a place for only mad people because sometimes she saw patients trying to escape since her home is a stone's throw from the facility.
Mr Abaas Mpindi, team leader at Media Challenge Initiative, urged journalists to think about their mental well-being even as they report mental health stories.
“We are humans before we are journalists,” he said.
Mental health
According to the latest report from the Uganda Counselling Association and the Ministry of Health, at least 14 million people in Uganda have mental disorders.
The National Institute for Health Research says 15 per cent of these people require treatment.
