40 Patients Escape: Inadequate Medication Causes Riot At Kenya Mental Hospital

On Monday, 70 patients managed to overpower the guards at Kenya's only public mental health facility and 40 patients were able to escape.

According to a report by Bloomberg News, the 70 patients that tried to escape had previously been complaining about the ineffectiveness of the medication they were on.

The police chief near the Mathari Mental Hospital in Kenya, Samuel Anampiu, told the Associated Press the incident happened on Sunday morning and that the police are still searching for the missing patients. The AP says that mental health facilities in Kenya are severely underfunded. Due to poverty and a "lack of access and the stigma associated with mental disorders prevent many patients from getting good assistance."

The remaining patients still on the loose are said not to be a danger to the public. A doctor at the Kenya mental hospital told AP that the magnitude of the escape is unusual. The doctor said it is normal for two or three patients to try and escape, but not 70.

According to the BBC, the Mathari Mental Hospital was the subject of a documentary by CNN exposing the abuses endured by the patients. While visiting the hospital where 40 patients escaped, the CNN film crew found one patient locked inside a room with a dead body.

The BBC also reports that one of the escaped patients returned to the facility on his own after visiting his home and realizing how different the "environment" was.