Address Nairobi, Kenya | ||
Patients escape from mathari hospital as doctors strike begins
Mathari Hospital is the only psychiatric hospital in Kenya. It has capacity for 675 patients and is located near the slum area of Mathare district of Nairobi.
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When keepers are gone mentally ill patients escape from mathari hospital
History
Mathari Hospital was founded in 1910 by the colonial authorities of British Kenya. A smallpox isolation centre was redesigned and became the Nairobi Lunatic Asylum. The facilities were segregated with African patients, who constituted 95% of the patients, being kept in the worst conditions. They lived in very overcrowded bomas, which were the traditional form of housing in Kenya. The facilities provided for Asians were somewhat better with the best conditions being reserved for Europeans. Up until independence all psychiatrists, senior doctors and nurses employed at the hospital were European.