Talatala accuses state of lying about patients

Expert says ‘in medicine, time will tell the truth’

The Gauteng department of health lied to the court‚ and this act of perjury allowed the first move of Life Esidimeni patients‚ a specialist psychiatrist has told the Life Esidimeni arbitration.

Dr Mvuyiso Talatala‚ who was chair of the SA Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop) when the move started‚ testified for a second day in the Life Esidimeni arbitration yesterday.

In December 2015‚ the SA Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag) and Sasop took the health department to court to stop the transfer of mentally-ill patients into non-governmental organisations (NGOs). They reached a settlement.

Talatala explained that in March last year the government started discharging about 50 mentally-ill patients from Life Esidimeni into a home for intellectually-disabled children.

Sasop‚ Sadag and others asked the court for an urgent interdict to stop the transfer of patients to unlicensed NGOs‚ saying the government had breached the settlement. They lost their bid.

Talatala said this was because the Gauteng government lied to the court by claiming the patients were “ready to be discharged”. The department had argued that a discharge means a doctor certifies that a patient is well enough to go home.

Talatala said the way the department defined discharge to the court “gave an impression that patients were well and could be sent back home”‚ something he and other medical experts disagreed with.

Talatala submitted that the judgment allowing the move to go ahead relied heavily on the department’s definition of “discharge”. He said although patients’ illness was contained at Life Esidimeni‚ they were not contained enough for them to be released into the community‚ as their release would result in further deterioration should they not receive proper care.

The interdict was also meant to stop the transfer of patients to the Takalani Home for intellectually-disabled children‚ since the admission would disadvantage the children at the facility.

Talatala said that Sasop and others did not appeal the court’s decision because “in medicine‚ time will tell the truth”.

A high number of patients died at Takalani. After Talatala testimony‚ patients’ families at the hearings ululated and applauded him.