Pretoria - An NGO from Cullinan, east of Pretoria, allegedly entered into a fraudulent contract with a government official to take care of 73 mental patients, some of whom have since died.
The patients were part of a group of about 2 000 transferred by the Gauteng Department of Health to various NGOs across the province following the cancellation of its long-running contract with Life Healthcare to cut costs.
The patients were moved from Life Healthcare Esidimeni facilities into 122 NGOs across the province, including Siyabandinga Elderly and Disabled in Cullinan.
Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu has since admitted 36 patients died following the transfers, and there have been calls for her to resign.
Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi last Wednesday asked the Health Ombudsman to investigate the matter, after meeting Mahlangu.
Siyabandinga turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to force the government to release the medical files and other patient particulars. The NGO also wanted the court to urgently grant it a licence to look after these patients, and for the department to allow it to continue caring for them.
The applicant operated from the Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre, which belonged to the department. It was here that some of the 36 patients died in May and June. The patients were transferred without their clinical files detailing their medical history, and the facility said it urgently needed them. It also wanted state subsidies for the care of these patients. But the Gauteng Health Department said the applicant never held a valid contract to care for these patients.
It argued that the owner of the facility, Dianne Noyile, concluded an unlawful lease agreement with a senior department official, only identified as MPO Nyatlo, to rent space. The department said the lease agreement was done fraudulently and without its knowledge.
It said there was a corrupt relationship between Noyile and Nyatlo. The court was told that the department was in the process of taking disciplinary steps against Nyatlo who is now on suspension.
The department said Noyile refused to accept that she no longer held the government contract to care for the mentally ill.
“She had attempted to continue her unlawful conduct by threats and violence, which included threats to set alight the department’s centre with all its patients in it,” counsel for the Health Department told Judge Peter Mabuse.
The applicant entered into an agreement with Nyatlo to lease some wards at the Cullinan facility for two years after the department decided to discharge the patients into the care of NGOs.
The department said it took over the running of the facility when it got wind of this, as the applicant was not licensed or able to take care of these patients. Departmental officials went to the facility in June, where the 73 patients were placed in two wards and told Noyile that the government was taking over, and that her staff had to go home. They refused to budge.
It was also mentioned in court that the first day the department took over, all the patients fell sick from food poisoning.
The linen from the beds was soiled and the applicant’s staff wanted to remove it, but they were prevented from doing so by the department.
The department issued the court with a report which stated the applicant was unable to care for the mental patients.
The findings included that the facility was managed by a pastor with no medical background, and had no nurses, only caregivers.
The drugs for the patients were stored on a makeshift wooden shelf in a room used as both a dining room, office and change room.
Male and female patients were also not separated.
Judge Peter Mabuse turned down the application.
On Monday the South African Medical Association said the relocation of patients to NGO facilities without investigating their suitability or having a co-ordinated strategy for such transfers on a large scale was premature.
It condemned the department for ignoring the concerns of representatives of the medical and psychiatry fraternity.
“If their valid concerns and suggestions were considered and taken into account, appropriate action may have prevented the untimely deaths of these patients. We believe that what happened reinforces the perception that the government is not serious in its commitment to care for the most vulnerable members of society,” said its head Dr Mzukisi Grootboom.
“Concerns were repeatedly raised of the level of care at the other facilities and the department was warned that there was a high probability of relapse of these patients if they did not receive the same structured care as at Life Esidemeni. We need to establish the condition of the other patients who were moved to ensure their safety is guaranteed.”
Pretoria News