The SA Society of Psychiatrists (Sasop) has called for an urgent review and overhaul of Gauteng’s entire health care system, reports News24. “The current situation is a direct result of accumulating years of neglect, delay and failure to prioritise mental health care services in Gauteng as well as in other provinces,” the organisation’s president Bernard Janse van Rensburg said.
The report says he was responding to Health Ombudsman Professor Malegapuru Makgoba’s findings that 94 mentally-ill patients died after the Gauteng Health Department moved them from the Life Esidimeni facilities to several unlicensed NGOs last year. It was done to cut costs.
Van Rensburg called for the differential licensing of non-governmental organisations. There should be one licence for those who provided safe residential care, another for those who provided psycho-social rehabilitative care, and another still for those who provided day-care services.
Van Rensburg said those patients transferred from the Life Esidimeni Hospital should be immediately moved back. “[They should] be accommodated in facilities such as those operated by Life Esidimeni Hospital, as a safe temporary 'holding space', until the detail and logistics of the implementation of a proper de-institutionalisation process could be established.”
Gauteng DA MPL Jack Bloom said he welcomed the suspension of Dr Barney Selebano, head of the Gauteng Health Department, over the disastrous patient transfer. Polity reports that Selebano was suspended for his part in the bungled transfer. Qedani Mahlangu resigned as MEC for Health last week the day before the damning health ombudsman report was released.
The report revealed shocking haste and a lack of compassion for patients during the transfer that was prompted by the provincial health department’s need to cut costs. Bloom said he was aware that a notice of intention to suspend had been served on Dr Makgabo Manamela, the mental health head.
“This is a necessary step in the disciplinary process, which will open the way for new top level appointments that will hopefully be more professional and ethical,” Bloom is quoted in the report as saying. He said there were nine other senior officials identified in the health ombudsman’s report that he expected would be suspended and disciplined.
“The newly appointed acting head of the department, Dr Ernest Kenoshi, faces a daunting task in restoring morale and establishing effective management and the priority now is finding places for all the mental health patients at unlicensed NGOs as existing psychiatric hospitals are already overcrowded,” said Bloom.
He said the department should request Life Healthcare Esidimeni to re-open their facilities in order to accommodate the large number of mental health patients.
In her comment on the Health Ombud’s report, Jacqui Stewart, the CEO of The Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA), said:
“The deaths of 94 – and probably more – mental health patients in 2016 in Gauteng constitute a national tragedy in South Africa. Patients were transferred rapidly, in large numbers in a short time frame to 27 NGOs, all of which operated with invalid licences. The report found that the deaths of the patients were due to a high-level decision that was ‘unwise and flawed, with inadequate planning and a ‘chaotic’ and ‘rushed or hurried’ implementation process’.”
“The report concluded that ‘the project has brought ‘pain and anguish’ to many families, it has also brought national and international disrepute and embarrassment to South Africa, particularly its Health System.’
“MP Wilmot James, Shadow Health Minister for the DA, has said: ‘There is no question that if we had credible healthcare facility surveillance the alarm to intervene would have gone off a long time ago and a chain of command would have reacted to prevent the deaths of former Life Esidimeni inhabitants who had been moved to unsuitable facilities elsewhere.’
“COHSASA is a credible healthcare facility evaluation and accreditation organisation and is ready and able to work with any organisation – in both private and public sectors – to ensure that this never happens again.”
COHSASA has a set of standards that enable an independent evaluation of sub-acute healthcare facilities in terms of the resources, the credentials of care workers, clinical management, governance and all aspects related to meeting standards for delivering safe, quality patient care.”
“Over the past 21 years, COHSASA – a not-for-profit based in Cape Town – has evaluated well over 600 facilities in Africa and is the continent’s only internationally accredited healthcare facility accreditation body. Since 2002, COHSASA has been accredited as a credible, independent health facility evaluator by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), a global body represented by some 70 countries.”
[link url="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/overhaul-entire-gauteng-health-care-system-sa-psychiatrists-20170208"]News24 report[/link]
[link url="http://www.polity.org.za/article/da-welcomes-suspension-of-gauteng-health-department-boss-2017-02-09"]Polity report[/link]