Police have been forced to turn to the courts in a bid to get the Gauteng health department to release information on the deaths of Life Esidimeni psychiatric patients.
This is according to senior police officer Major-General Charles Johnson, who testified at the arbitration hearings into the scandal yesterday.
"What we experience in the team is that our investigation is delayed by the non-co-operation of the Gauteng department of health,'' he told retired Justice Dikgang Moseneke, who is chairing the hearings.
"We approached the department on various occasions for medical records and other evidence that we could use in our investigation but co-operation was lacking," he said.
"We don't have the hospital records. We don't have the clinical records of the people that were moved and we do not have most of the information, clinical records, medical records, from the NGOs.
"Most of these files from the NGOs are with the department . When we approached the NGOs they said the files are with the department."