Uproar over mental facility deaths
SHIRLEY Mattera can’t bring herself to go to any government mortuaries yet. She still has hope that her cousin, who suffers from a rare and fatal degenerative disease, is alive. That he is safe.
“I was just telling my friend I’m not going to the mortuaries for now. I know my cousin is around. Wherever he is, I will find the means to take him from there, even if I have to hire someone to look after him at home,” Mattera says.
Roger Paul Fernhold was a patient at Life Esidimeni, Gauteng, together with his sister, Joanthea, who died last August at the facility.
Like her, he suffers from Huntington disease, a progressive brain disorder that runs in their family. It causes uncontrolled movements, emotional problems and loss of cognitive ability.
Until this week, Mattera had thought her cousin was still at Life Esidimeni – she last visited him in May – but was horrified to read of the deaths of 36 of the nearly 2 000 mentally-ill patients who had been transferred to various NGOs scattered across Gauteng in June.
“Nobody informed me my cousin was being moved. Now I don’t know if he is dead or alive.”
Mattera has spent this week searching for him.
“I’ve contacted the NGOs in Cullinan, Weskoppies and Sterkfontein, where these patients were moved.
“I’ve tried to reach Precious Angels, but there are no contact details. I’ve sent so many e-mails but no one can help me. I’m afraid no one knows where my cousin was sent. They say they have no records, that the patients brought their own records.
Costs
“I’m worried that he is not taking his medication. A lot of people don’t know what Huntington disease is, they may think he is a mental patient, but he is not.”
In June this year, the Gauteng Department of Health terminated its long-standing contract with Life Esidimeni, a private health care facility for the severely mentally ill, in an effort to cut costs and lessen dependence on mental health institutions.
After she revealed the patient deaths this week, calls were made for Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu’s head. On Wednesday, Aaron Motsoaledi, the Health Minister asked the health ombudsman to probe the deaths.
Section 27, a public interest law centre, says: “The department was repeatedly warned by families, experts and a wide range of stakeholders that such results would occur should it terminate its contract with Life Esidimeni before capacitating community-based care centres to receive the mental health users.
“The department chose to ignore the warnings, to shirk its responsibility to consult with stakeholders and family members and to resist in court efforts to protect users.
“The deaths are tragic. But the department cannot in good faith, claim they are surprising.”
The department did not respond. There could be more deaths, warns Section 27.
“A great number of users were discharged to the care of their families or to tertiary institutions such as Sterkfontein Hospital. We’re in contact with families whose loved ones have died in these institutions and/ or at home.
“There is a danger the rate of deaths will increase as users relapse and succumb to conditions in their new environments, unless urgent steps are taken to address these conditions.”
Lucas Mogoerane’s younger brother, Christopher, 56, who was schizophrenic died two weeks after his admission to a care facility near Midrand.
“He collapsed and died, because of the trauma and the conditions, he was not taking his medication. There are no nurses there, no care workers, no security. He cried when he saw me. It’s so sad. We warned the MEC not to transfer our loved ones.”
“The problem is that a lot of the NGOs had told the department they didn’t have the capacity to take these patients…we want them to be held responsible,” says Marthe Viljoen, of the SA Federation for Mental Health.
Christine Nxumalo’s sister died at Precious Angels, which reportedly only registered as an NGO in June. Eight of the other patients died there too. Nxumalo has now joined Section 27, the SA Depression and Anxiety Group, the SA Society of Psychiatrists and the SA Federation for Mental Health to demand the police open inquests into the deaths of all other former residents of Life Esidimeni.
Life Healthcare’s Dr Nilesh Patel, the chief operating executive of health care services, said they had done everything in their power to ensure a smooth transition for patients.