Criminals were putting extreme pressure on the already strained mental-health system in South Africa. The Times reports that this is according to Minister of Health‚ Aaron Motsoaledi‚ who is quoted as saying: “We have 1,400 criminals languishing in mental-health institutions‚ waiting to be assessed. Many of them are taking up space in mental-health institutions.”
He said that some used mental health as a tactic for their legal battles and this resulted in mental-health patients being kept in regular medical wards in hospitals until beds became available for them at specialised institutions.
Motsoaledi added that it was tough to address the backlog of patients needing mental-health assessment. South Africa had 700 registered psychiatrists‚ but only 25% of those were working in the health sector.
[link url="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-08-24-criminals-taking-advantage-of-mental-health-system-motsoaledi/"]The Times report[/link]