Ex-Esidimeni MD shocks arbitration inquiry

JOHANNESBURG: Former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu told Life Esidimeni she slept under a stove when growing up, and so could the psychiatric patients because they had to be transferred, the arbitration hearing in Johannesburg, chaired by retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, was told yesterday.

Dr Morgan Mkhatshwa, who was the managing director at Life Esidimeni, said: “I got the shock of my life in one meeting when she told me that Brazil did not have psychiatric hospitals, and she slept under a stove – so can patients.

“I asked her what happened when the patients got aggressive… she said they got chained,” he said.

He decried the hurried transfer of patients, adding that Gauteng probably wanted to be a “trailblazer” in de-institutionalising psychiatric patients by placing them in NGOs.

“We warned about the danger of hurrying that. I wrote to the department that the patients are used to a familiar environment, immediate removal will have an impact on them psychologically… the only family they knew was us…we warned of the implications of the officials’ decision,” he said.

Mahlangu has since resigned in the wake of the Esidimeni tragedy that saw at least 141 patients die at ill-equipped NGOs due to starvation, exposure and dehydration.

“I thought the department had learnt from the 2007 experience where children died… their decision was not clinically rational.”

Seventeen intellectually challenged children died at a Soweto NGO in 2007 after they were removed from Life Esidimeni Hospital by the Gauteng Health Department.

“The children were taken out of Life Esidimeni, to an NGO called Khwezilokusa in Soweto. Seventeen died, those who survived were returned to Esidimeni by the department,” Mkhatshwa said, sending the audience into shock.

“On their return, we found the children were malnourished and severely dehydrated.”

The department said the move was meant to save costs and allow new health service providers into the field. – ANA