Pretoria - Yet another mentally ill patient from the Kairos Centre has died.
It is alleged that the man ran in front of a moving vehicle after being chased from the psychiatric institution outside Cullinan, east of Pretoria.
This latest death was the fifth to be reported at the facility in the past two months.
The centre, which is under the auspices of the Gauteng Department of Health, has since June made headlines following allegations of neglect of patients.
The dead man, Petrus Smit, fled from the centre on August 7 with a fellow patient known only as Dirk, nicknamed “Zulu Boy”.
DA Gauteng MPL Bronwynn Engelbrecht, who has consistently blown the whistle on the unfolding situation, said Zulu Boy was later found and returned to the centre.
Engelbrecht said Smit was found after running in front of a vehicle on August 12. She said a suicide note found on his hospital card linked him to Kairos.
“It is also alleged that the patient left a suicide note five days after being chased away from the centre. Obviously, without any food and nowhere to go, he decided he could not continue with living and had run in front of a car,” she said.
According to her, no missing person docket had been opened after he left the centre.
On August 6, Pretoria News reported that a female patient was found dead after she allegedly committed suicide at the facility.
That was after another mentally ill patient, Shane Jordaan, 30, mysteriously disappeared on June 4. His body was discovered later near the old Cullinan Road (the R513).
The circumstances surrounding Jordaan’s death are still under investigation.
Centre manager Susan van Niekerk, who had previously referred all queries to her lawyer, Oelof de Meyer, did not respond yesterday to a request for comment.
The department, which had constantly failed to respond to media questions, also did not respond.
Pretoria News