Mental patients won't be dumped
The Gauteng health department has said none of the state psychiatric patients accommodated in Life Hospitals in the province will be put out onto the streets. The department is paying Life Hospitals R10000 a month for the accommodation and medical care of each of about 1900 mentally ill or intellectually impaired patients.The department's contract with Life will not be renewed at the end of March, which has led to fears by patients' families that their relatives will have nowhere to go.Various charities asked to take them in have said they do not have the resources to look after mentally impaired people.The department's spokesman, Steve Mabona, said the patients will "not be left out in the cold" and plans for their care will be made.Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu will meet the patients' families this weekend.Non-government organisations are collecting affidavits from families that claim they cannot look after their relatives because they are too sick, unstable or unresponsive to medication.One family member said her mother starts fires whenever she comes home and needs to be watched constantly...
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