SAHRC inspects ageing Town Hill Hospital
The Town Hill Hospital’s ageing infrastructure was brought under the microscope after the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) visited the institution yesterday.
SAHRC commissioners are in the province over the next few days to conduct impromptu, unannounced visits at some institutions as part of their initiative to prevent and monitor if torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishments are taking place at the facilities.
The commission’s national preventative mechanism (NPM) is also monitoring the conditions of the buildings and found that the Town Hill Hospital, which is a specialised psychiatric hospital in Pietermaritzburg, was old and the infrastructure was in need of maintenance and upgrading.
Head of the NPM, Dr Kwanele Phakati, who conducted the oversight visit, said they were taken on a tour of the entire hospital and will compile their report on the province after all visits are completed.
Phakati said further discussions would need to be held with the hospital regarding its maintenance and refurbishment plans.
“We will be having more discussions with the hospital as soon as we finalise our visit report and, thereafter, make recommendations on what should be done to deal with the issues we have seen today [Monday],” he said.
A capital project was already planned to help with the maintenance of the hospital which will help address some of the issues, he said.
“It is an ongoing engagement to help with the protection of people in the care of the state. It is not a once-off exercise, we will [compile] a report with the findings,” he said.
Phakati added that he was unable to elaborate on the issues that they have found within the hospital as they were still finalising their report.
The visits were part of the SAHRC programme for the week, which will culminate in the presentation of citations to honour human rights activists.
The presentation is expected to take place at the Chief Albert Luthuli Museum, in KwaDukuza, on March 27.
“This visit is part of a bigger programme during March, which is Human Rights Month, where we conduct stakeholder engagements and site visits to places such as [Town Hill Hospital]. This hospital is a public hospital that treats mental health patients.
“We have to visit places where people are deprived of their liberties where they can’t just decide to wake up one morning and decide to go home.
“We visited the hospital and exchanged ideas with management, we were taken on a [tour of] the entire hospital and we sampled different wards in terms of the facilities,” Phakati said, adding that he could not go into detail of the visit as the NPM is guided by confidentiality around its staff and patients.