The Democratic Alliance on Tuesday made a startling claim in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature about the death of another mentally ill patient. The party’s health spokesman‚ Jack Bloom‚ told the house: “I have been informed by a relative that one more patient has since died at the Cullinan centre.”This‚ he said‚ would bring the death toll to 37.He said the deaths of the mentally ill patients at various non-profit organisations have been likened to the lives that were lost at Marikana.“There has been a justified outcry at this high number of deaths in a short time at NGOs that were quite obviously not suitable to look after these patients. We were also told that they were transferred without the files that contained their medical history‚” Bloom said.Provincial health spokesman Steve Mabona denied that another patient had died.“According to our records‚ we do not have more deaths at our facilities and NGOs that house psychiatric patients‚” he said.Bloom told the house that Tuesday marked exactly 14 days since health MEC Qedani Mahlangu admitted‚ in a reply to a his question‚ that 36 psychiatric patients had died at the NGOs to which they had been transferred after the cancellation of the contract with Life Healthcare Esidimeni on the West Rand.“The health ombudsman is doing an investigation‚ but it is clear that the primary blame and negligence lies with the health MEC.“She was warned by relatives‚ NGOs and interest groups that the transfer process should not be rushed and that there were not enough NGOs with the expertise and resources to take so many patients‚” he said. – TMG Digital/Sowetan..