The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it is ready to prosecute individuals implicated in the deaths of the 144 Life Esidimeni psychiatric patients who died after being transferred to unregistred and ill-equipped NGOs between 2015 and 2016.
According to the report of then Health Ombud, Prof Malegapuru Makgoba, some of the patients had died from among others dehydration, aspiration pneumonia, acquired pneumonia, and cardiac arrest. It was found that the illnesses that later claimed their lives emanated from the level of care they had received at those NGOs.
This is what you need to know:
- The tragedy was preceded by the October 2015 announcement of then Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu that the contract between the department and Life Esidimeni, a long-term psychiatric care hospital which provided specialised chronic care to approximately 2,000 mental healthcare users, had ended.
- The department had planned to move these patients to NGOs and other psychiatric hospitals in an attempt to “deinstitutionalise” mental healthcare and save costs.
- Following their move, the mental health patients kept dying, which led to the minister of health asking Prof Makgoba to investigate the cause of deaths of the patients. An arbitration was held afterwards, and in April 2018 police officially opened 46 inquest dockets into the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
- The NPA says the delays in prosecuting implicated parties were due to the complexity of the case, the volume of evidence, and the need to build a strong and legally sound prosecution, but that they are satisfied that there is a reasonable prospect of a successful prosecution based on the evidence gathered.
- Those implicated are expected to face charges including culpable homicide, among others, linked to the unlawful and negligent decisions that led to the deaths of the patients.
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