Hundreds of patients have to be moved

THE arduous process of moving hundreds of Life Esidimeni patients from illequipped non-governmental organisations will likely only truly begin in the coming weeks.

This after the office of Gauteng Premier David Makhura announced that its task team would only be able to effect change once it had gathered enough information with regards to the number of living patients still without real care and how many competent facilities can house them.

Meanwhile, a number of the NGOs that may have been responsible for the negligent care leading to at least 94 deaths have refused to speak out, insisting the State will answer for them over the tragedy.

According to the provincial government’s spokesperson Thabo Masebe, the premier’s office would only be focusing on the relocation of patients, as per the recommendations of the report by health ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba that insisted the patients receive proper care.

“It will take about a week to gather the information and then only then will we be able to get people to move out of the NGOs,” Masebe said.

However, the licensing of NGOs as mental health facilities and the possibility that many of the organisations that housed these patients were unlicensed, will only be dealt with once MEC Dr. Gwen Ramokgopa has been sworn in as a member of the provincial legislature.

“We are not dealing with the licensing of the organisations, we are dealing with the recommendations of the ombudsman that said we must move the patients.

“The aim is that by next week she would be sworn in. Once she has been sworn in, the process of her appointment will be facilitated,” he said.

At a media briefing on Wednesday, the ombudsman said 94 mentally ill patients died after being transferred from Life Esidimeni facilities into the care of NGOs across Gauteng, without their families being notified in many instances.