The patients we saw were relatively sedate, their disorders not so radical. However, we had been told by prior visitors that there were rooms where people were chained to beds and left to live in their own excrement. We did not get to see those rooms on our visit, but a worse horror unfolded as we walked and questioned the doctor. It was said that there was a mass grave in the backyard of this psychiatric home, so I pursued this subject with the doctor. In our conversation I asked him about the death rate of the patients.
Anemia is a perfectly avoidable cause of death, remedied by a decent diet.
The hospital only had rice from another humanitarian agency and wheat flour which we had donated to them. There are sixteen pschiatric wards around Tajikistan, most are in the same condition as the one we saw. I left the ward feeling sick at heart. I could tell that my visitor wasn't feeling too well either. I have been seeking more significant funding to institutions such as these, but this is the first time that I had actually visited one.