Inspect KZN psychiatric patient facilities

FOLLOWING the tragic deaths of psychiatric patients in Gauteng, the Inkatha Freedom Party in Kwa-Zulu-Natal supports the call by the Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, for the Human Rights Commission to investigate whether there are similar cases in other provinces.

The tragic deaths of about 100 psychiatric patients has sent shock waves throughout the country and has exposed the lack of adequate and suitable facilities to cater for such patients at our hospitals.

The revelations in Gauteng raise many questions about how long this has been going on and just how widespread is it.

We have always bemoaned the fact that most hospitals in our province do not have dedicated facilities to accommodate psychiatric patients nor do we have adequate staff to provide specialised care.

Having general-care patients placed in the same wards as psychiatric patients poses a threat to both sets of patients as well as to staff.

The government needs to provide the necessary funding and resources for hospitals to cater for the needs of psychiatric patients.

While we support the minister’s call, he needs to get his house in order. Therefore we urge him to evaluate psychiatric facilities at hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal.

The minister must institute a departmental investigation into how psychiatric patients are cared for in our province.

We are deeply concerned about the lack of facilities and the shortage of adequately trained staff.

The department must not wait for a tragedy to occur in KZN before it sits up and takes notice of something that we as the IFP have been highlighting as a serious concern for a long time.

The department needs to be proactive and prioritise the well-being of its citizens rather than to react after the fact.

Creative thinking and forward planning is essential if we are to prevent the loss of lives of patients with special needs.

NCAMISILE NKWANYANA

IFP MPL