Police in Kenya are on the hunt for 40 patients who managed to escape from the country's largest psychiatric facility in Nairobi, Sunday.
The incident that took place at the Mathari Mental Hospital was seemingly planned by the patients when they overpowered the hospital guards.
According to Kenya's Standard newspaper, the group of 40 ran from hospital grounds after one patient complained that the medicine being administered to him was useless.
Once he began griping, the other patients started shouting complaints as well. This incited a revolt, as the patients took control of the mental health facility by force.
75 of the mental patients were involved in the uprising, but only 40 managed to break out. Whether or not the complaints were meant to confuse guards has not yet been confirmed.
All those that escaped were male patients, according to Samuel Anampiu, the local police chief.
Nine have already been escorted back to the hospital by family members, claimed Dr. Kisivuli Azenga, the hospital's medical superintendent.
Officials are still on the lookout for the remaining 31 escapees. Azenga insisted Monday that the mental health patients are not a "danger to society," but it is pressing that they are returned safely to the facility.
He said the patients are not threatening, despite the fact that local police told the BBC that some of the men are known for violence.
According to the Associated Press, Kenyan mental health care is stricken by a lack of funding-both government and private contributions.
Additionally, many patients do not get the proper care they need, and some maintain that this could have been one of the reasons for the outbreak.
Kenyan authorities are working with the psychiatric professionals at Mathari to find the missing patients and ensure they are not harmed, nor that they will harm others.
