IT HAS been a disaster in agonising slow motion. To cut costs, health officials in Gauteng province (South Africa’s economic hub, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria) decided to transfer psychiatric patients from specialised private hospitals to care homes run by charities. Family members, psychologists and advocacy groups all warned that this could be dangerous for the patients. They pleaded with Qedani Mahlangu, the provincial health minister, and even went to court to try to stop the move, arguing that vulnerable people were being rushed into dodgy homes that would not provide proper care. Ignoring their concerns, Ms Mahlangu went ahead. Some 1,300 patients were moved over several months last year. An ombudsman’s report described this process as a “cattle auction market”, with care homes jostling over which patients they wanted. Some sent pickup trucks to fetch them. Disabled patients were tied down with bed sheets for transport. Families did not know where their loved ones had gone. Soon, patients were dying.
The full extent of the horror is still being uncovered. Last week South Africa’s health ombudsman, Malegapuru Makgoba, told...Continue reading
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