By Nelson Manneh
The Gambia’s National GSM operator, Gamcel, donated food and sanitary items to the Tanka Tanka hospital 
inSalagie, where 87 patents with mental disorders, are admitted.
The presentation of the items took place on Monday, 19th June 2017, at the Tanka Tanka hospital in Salagie. This is the first time. a GSM operator donates items to this hospital.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, the hospital’s matron and Manager, Mr. Omar Bojang, said ‘Tanka Tanka’ is the only hospital in The Gambia that takes care of people with mental disorders.
Mr. Bojang said the people admitted at the said hospital are our own brothers and sisters and should not be neglected.
He added that out of the 87 patent admitted at the hospital, 70% of them are males and while the rest are females.
“Giving materials to such people is a humanitarian gesture. None of them was born like this and everybody should know that it can happen to anyone at any time,” He said
Mr. Bojang mentioned some of the activities that may lead to such illness that affects the brain, and advised people to avoid them. Among them he said are, smoking cannabis, drinking alcohol, loss of love ones, loss of job, etc.
Madam Fatou Fatty, the Deputy General Manager of Gamcel, said credit should go to the staff of the hospital who exercise patience and danger of looking after the patients admitted in the hospital; that this shows how dangerous their job is. “When I entered the hospital I almost cried, just by thinking of the way the staff are able to cope with this mentally ill people,” She remarked.
Madam Fatty said the hospital really needs a helping hand as the ministry of health cannot do it alone.
In his concluding remarks, the Public Relation Officer (PRO) Mr. Modou Lamin Jammeh said the hospital is still under the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul. He said they are always yearning for such gestures. “This is the first time a GSM operator gives out material to this hospital. We are calling on other institutions to come on board and give a helping hand. This people admitted here are almost all youths and none of them is born with the illness,” he concluded.
