(Last Updated on February 18, 2021 by GERALD NCUBE)
MASVINGO – The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has filed an urgent chamber application at the Masvingo High Court demanding the immediate restoration of water supply at Ngomahuru Mental Hospital.
Ngomahuru has gone for more than a month without any water supply, forcing patients at the institution to take a bath at a nearby river.
This follows an initial letter that was written to the ministry of Health, ZINWA and ZETDC bringing the matter to their attention and requesting that the situation be addressed.
The Ministry of Health is cited as the first respondent while ZINWA and ZETDC are cited as the second and third respondents respectively.
“We have filed an urgent chamber application at Masvingo High Court seeking an order compelling ZINWA, Zetdc and Ministry of Health and Child Care to restore water supplies at Ngomahuru Mental Hospital and to stop the inhumane treatment of patients.
“In the application, our lawyer argued that the obtaining situation at Ngomahuru where both Male and female patients are being forced by authorities to take a bath in a nearby river is untenable and an affront to human dignity and the dignity of the mental institution,” ZLHR said.
The human rights lawyers organisation had initially warned in their letter that they will be forced to tale legal action if the authorities do not act on the letter.