Officials ‘gave in to pressure’

HELP OFFERS REJECTED

The Gauteng department of health rejected Life Esidimeni’s offer to send its clinical staff to check the non-governmental organisations mental patients were to be transferred to were adequate, the arbitration hearing in Johannesburg heard yesterday.

The department also refused to disclose where the patients were going, a tearful Dr Morgan Mkhatshwa, Esidimeni managing director, told the hearing chaired by retired Justice Dikgang Moseneke.

Mkhatshwa’s institution also asked to see the department’s plan and to identify suitable NGOs.

“They were not your average mentally ill patients. They were always assessed by experts and were not the kind of patients one could send to commmunities. We wanted to know where they were going. We offered teams of experts to evaluate the NGOs’ facilities. That was declined.”

The department was told that discharging over 2 000 patients within a month would not be possible or safe for the patients.

“You need to also trial the place before you send them there permanently. When the department said they would send its own clinical experts, we rejected that.”

He said it was sad to see people giving in to political pressure. “I am referring to medical professionals with wonderful credentials who would not stand up for something that was against their oath. The top officials just sat there and said ‘it’s bad’ and succumbed to pressure from their bosses.” – ANA