NC premier confident mental hospital will open next year

ONGOING delays to the construction of the new Kimberley mental hospital have taken a toll on crime prevention in the Northern Cape but this is likely to be a thing of the past when the facility opens its doors next year, according to Premier Sylvia Lucas.

Speaking on the opening day of the Provincial Crime Prevention Summit at the AGS Tabernakel in Kimberley yesterday, Lucas said that a lack of facilities for treating psychiatric patients was contributing to high crime rates in the Province.

She, however, gave assurances that the mental hospital would be completed in the near future. This would allow for a more streamlined process when dealing with crim- inal suspects in need of psychiatric evaluation.

“We are definitely faced with a challenge in the absence of a proper structure, but we do have arrangements with the West End Hospital and the mental hospital in the Free State,” Lucas said.

“Even the Auditor-General has acknowledged that there is a need for the project to be completed.

“As we speak, the mental hospital is 94 percent complete. The issues causing the delays have been sorted out and we are busy discussing the other six percent.

“We are confident that the facility will be able to see patients from next year.

“Unfortunately, the issue of a shortage of psychiatric facilities is there but, on the plus side, it won’t be much longer that we sit with this situation.”