Esidimeni: premier kept in the dark on transfers
THE decision to move psychiatric patients to unlicensed non-governmental organisations where more than 100 died was not taken by Premier David Makhura and his provincial executive but individuals in the Gauteng Health Department.
This came from none other than Makhura himself yesterday when he appealed to rival parties in the legislature not to use the deaths of the psychiatric patients as a “political football”.
Prior to his address, Makhura’s entourage and various ANC members were met with protest actions by members of the DA and EFF.
The DA members held a placard protest on the corner of Kenneth Road and Homestead Avenue leading to Greenhills Stadium in Randfontein. They held a placard calling for the fall of Makhura, accusing him of being directly responsible for the deaths of the patients. Some DA members held similar placards outside the stadium.
Police fired stun grenades to prevent EFF members gaining access to the stadium, in what appeared to be a bid to disrupt the proceedings.
The red berets came to the stadium carrying crosses in which they also implicated Makhura in the deaths. They sang songs claiming that Makhura was a murderer.
In the legislature, EFF members wanted Speaker Ntombi Mekgwe to allow an opportunity to discuss a motion on the Esidimeni deaths, but she turned it down on the grounds that they failed to follow procedure on putting matters on the agenda.
Soon thereafter, after the EFF’s failed attempt to delay the State of the Province Address, Makhura used his address to lay into his critics, especially the EFF. The DA members were sombre but individually held posters remembering the dead psychiatric patients.
“I would like to state categorically that the decision to transfer Life Esidimeni mental health patients to NGOs was not made in consultation with the provincial executive council. The executive council and I would have never approved a plan to outsource mental health, a primary responsibility of the state to care for the vulnerable in society, to NGOs. What is even worse is the fact that such NGOs didn’t meet appropriate standards and legal prescripts.
“The provincial Department of Health had repeatedly reported that, as a result of the new hospitals and community health centres, they had enough beds in public health facilities that could accommodate public patients from private health facilities such as Selby Hospital and Life Esidimeni centres,” Makhura said.
He said the executive council does not interfere in the appointment or retention of service providers by provincial departments, saying: “We dare not be found on the wrong side of the law.”
“I have always emphasised to all MECs and HoDs (heads of department) reviewing contracts with any service provider that they must never compromise service delivery, especially the most vulnerable groups that depend entirely on the state for their wellbeing. Cost considerations can never override the imperative of the quality of care.
“It is common cause that the ill-fated transfer of patients to the NGOs compromised the wellbeing of mental health patients. At the very least, the department should have placed all patients in public health facilities or retained the services of private facilities in case there was not sufficient space in the public sector.
“As head of government, I am deeply aggrieved by the extent to which those responsible for this tragic and ill-fated transfer of patients to unlawfully operating NGOs have tried to hide the facts from me, the minister of health and the health ombud,” Makhura said.
He said he, together with Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi and newly appointed MEC for Health Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, were doing everything they could to implement the health ombud’s proposals.
Appealing to his rival political parties not to use the tragedy for political point scoring, Makhura said the families of the victims had also appealed for the same when he hosted a healing ceremony at Freedom Park on Saturday.
“At the healing ceremony, families made an impassioned plea that as we mourn the tragic death of the mental health patients and take decisive corrective action, politicians and political parties must be advised not to use this tragedy as a political football because this prolongs their pain and anguish,” Makhura pleaded.
He reiterated he would ensure the tragedy was not repeated, and he would use the remainder of his term to ensure all vulnerable communities were living in safe houses.
DA spokesperson on health Jack Bloom in his reaction said: “I was astonished that the premier claimed he did not know that the psychiatric patients would be sent to NGOs. This is surely not true, as former health MEC Qedani Mahlangu stated this publicly, and I warned many times in the legislature about the risks to the patients.”