Ex-esidimeni official denies records claim

THE former managing director of the Life Esidimeni Group has denied that mental health patients were moved from one of the company's facilities without medical records.

Dr Morgan Mkhatshwa was testifying at the virtual Life Esidimeni inquest facilitated by the High Court in Pretoria.

The inquest is investigating whether anyone should be held criminally liable for the deaths of 144 patients who died after they were moved from a Life Esidimeni facility to various NGOS.

The Gauteng department of health terminated its contract with the Life Esidimeni facility in 2016 in an attempt to save costs and restructure mental health services.

Yesterday, Mkhatshwa was questioned by Shavani Sibara, representing former Gauteng head of mental health Makgabo Manamela.

Sibara questioned Mkhatshwa on the report which stated that patients moved from the Life Esidimeni facility were in a “bad condition”.

“Patients who were moved from Esidimeni were in a bad condition, Manamela contends. The first received were not in good condition and had to be screened from scratch, and it appears they were not well taken care of,” Sibara said.

Mkhatshwa said he was unable to confirm what state the patients were in at the time they were moved.

“There is no patient that left Life Esidimeni without documentation. What happened between the departure from the facility and the destination, I cannot account for that. The department will have to account," he said.