The Maputo Municipal Council is removing citizens from the streets people who ar suffering from mental disorders, supposedly in order to reduce their vulnerability and begging rates in the city.
The fact was revealed on Thursday by the Councillor for Health and Social Welfare, Alice Magaia, during a meeting of the Municipal Assembly.
During the session, the main opposition party, Renamo, the largest opposition party, asked about the municipality’s strategy to eradicate begging and reducing the number of individuals with mental problems in the capital.
Magaia replied that the municipality is committed to removing all individuals with mental health problems, who take refuge in the capital to practice begging.
As part of the implementation of the 2019/2023 municipal development plan, according to Magaia, the municipality collected people with mental health problems who were roaming the city. In the 2020/2021 period, 16 citizens were removed from the city and turned over to their respective families after medical follow-up.
‘They were collected and directed to the Maputo Central Hospital (HCM) and then to the Infulene Psychiatric Hospital, after an evaluation and confirmation of their mental health problems’, Magaia said.
Some patients come from other regions of the country, she said, and so it was necessary to reintegrate them in their provinces of origin, including Manica, Sofala and Nampula.
Magaia added that currently12 patients with mental health problems are hospitalized in Maputo. She said that the municipality is working with partners to create a transitional center to accommodate patients during their recovery phase.
‘We are creating conditions to have a transit center for these patients. The main constraints we have seen after reintegration is that families have not been receiving these patients. They do not do the proper medication follow-up and control at the health facility level’, she explained.
