By Mustapha Jarju
Women and Children Aid organization the Gambia yesterday Thursday 6th October 2022 donated clothes, sanitary materials and cosmetics items to the Tanka-Tanka Psychiatric Hospital in Salaji, West coast region.
Women and Children Aid – The Gambia is an Organization supporting women, children, and issues affecting vulnerable people. The organization was established in January 2022, and since then has donated items worth thousands of dalasi to the needy.
Tanka-Tanka Psychiatric Hospital is the only center in the Gambia where mentally disturbed patients are admitted. “People will come here for admission and stay within two weeks, and some might go up to a month before they are discharged.
Omar Bojang, a senior health official at the hospital explained ways and manners admitting patients in the center, while he as well disclosed how they cloth the patients and care for them.
Bojang continued that the Items brought for the patients will be very supportive to the patients, “we have lots of them who will come here without clothe so this is why clothes and some of the materials having here will never be enough for them. Even some of the patients when discharged do go home with them.”
The Senior Health Officer, however, used the opportunity to outlined some of their challenges among these include lack of some essential items.
Isatou Secka founder and executive director of Women and Children Aid the Gambia said, her organization does psycho-social support in consultation with most of the psychotic patients that they have worked with,
She said “we feel that those who are at the psychiatric hospital as well are our brothers and sisters, the society needs to see them as part of us, this is why we come up to give support to our people who are admitted here,” she said.
Isatou added that she feels proud and happy especially with her team, giving support to the people at no cost, the psycho-social support that they do is free and all the support they are giving to the vulnerable is free.