Pretoria - Patients with mental disabilities at Evuxakeni Psychiatric Hospital in Giyani, Limpopo, will celebrate the year-end in style with Communications Minister Faith Muthambi this coming Friday.
Two years ago, after a clean-up campaign the Minister led at the hospital as part of Imbizo Focus Week and in honour and celebration of Nelson Mandela Day, she announced that she would take the Psychiatric Hospital under her wing with the view of transforming the health facility into a centre of hope.
“We took the decision to adopt this hospital because often, people with mental disabilities feel cut off from the society, including family, friends and neighbours, now through our regular visits and year-end celebrations, we want to afford patients enough time to make themselves heard and let them know that as a caring government, we really accept…love them and their disorder.
“What we will do for patients this year, it remains a secret, but remember, we are in the season of gift-giving, so all we can tell is that they will be more fun at the year-end celebrations on Friday,” she said.
Last year, Minister Muthambi celebrated the New Year’s Eve with patients and the nursing staff, where she handed over gifts to patients. She also handed over uniform to the hospital choir before ending the year-end celebrations with cake cutting.
During her first visit to the Psychiatric hospital, Minister Muthambi emphasised the importance of revamping the health facility after she discovered that some of the walls were cracked, that there was shortage of staff personnel, the kitchen was in dilapidating state, the toilet pipes needed to be replaced as well as the shortage of geysers.
Through Minister Muthambi’s intervention, the hospital’s cracked walls have been fixed, the kitchen has been revamped, toilet pipes have been fixed, while the patients are now bathing with hot water as there are geysers and there is huge improvement in the filling of vacant posts. - SAnews.gov.za
