Some mental health NGOs in Gauteng have warned that the continuous shortages of medicine for psychiatric patients could lead to another Life Esidimeni tragedy as the patients were starting to relapse and to “become violent”, saying the situation in their facilities was frightful.
The NGOs spoke to Sunday Independent after it reported last week that Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku said over the past year the province experienced a shortage of nine drugs due to manufacturing constraints and tender issues.
The NGOs said Gauteng head of department Professor Mkhululi Lukhele issued a circular last September informing them of the lack of stock of psychotropic medicines and promised “we anticipate receiving stock of all the above medicines by the end of September 2019 We are currently sourcing stock from non-contracted supplies.”
But now the NGOs are saying the situation was turning into a “crisis”.
“The Department of Health has once again dropped the ball and not planned ahead and once again put psychiatric patients at risk. It is essential that they get the correct medication. (You cannot just change it because you feel like it). We are possibly facing another Life Esidimeni situation,” said Brett Mandy, a manager at Ebenezer House, a psychiatric home.
Mandy said for a number of months it has not been supplied with some essential medicines.
“We have been sourcing these ‘unavailable’ medicines and paying for them ourselves. But now we are totally out of money and have to cut down on food. Some homes, we hear, are just not giving the residents meds that are not available. I don’t think we need to elaborate on the effect this is having on the patients and the homes.
“This could turn into another tragedy. Is the medication not available or have the suppliers not been paid?”
Mandy said Ebenezer takes care of 23 fully functional adult patients.
Thandanani Jabulani House director Margi King, whose NGO in 2010 to 2016 took in 19 Life Esidimeni patients from Randfontein, said two patients had relapsed so far and one patient was becoming violent.
“We have had two relapses as Valium does not replace Rivotril. We are buying Rivotril. We are now buying our own Olanzapine as there is no replacement.”
Another two NGOs who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals said there was a “huge problem” as they were now using money for food on medication, which they were buying from private pharmacies at exorbitant prices.
“They said their worst fear would be a repeat of the Life Esidimeni tragedy if this situation was not addressed immediately.
The removal by the Gauteng health department, during Qedani Mahlangu’s reign as an MEC, of psychiatric patients from Life Esidimeni to unlicensed and ill-equipped NGOs led to 144 patients’ deaths due to lack of medication and poor living conditions.
A psychiatric clinic west of Joburg also informed the DA’s Jack Bloom that a local pharmacy did not have stock of certain medication and the patients have major problems using the substitute medication. Rivotril is out of stock and the patients get Serepax, he said.
When contacted for comment, the spokesperson said she would reply via email, but she later sent a WhatsApp message saying: “Yes, I did (receive the email). My board advised me ‘no comment’. Sorry!”
Last year, the Department of Health issued a statement confirming that the country was experiencing shortages of antidepressants and antipsychotics due to a range of supplier problems. The department said, however, it was sourcing stock from other countries where this was available to address the situation.
When contacted for comment three days before publication, Popo Maja, national health spokesperson, and Dr Lwazi Manzi, spokesperson for Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, had not responded.