Psychiatric patients run amok at Soweto Hospital as 39 people attacked

Are the extra beds for psychiatric patients at the already overflowing Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital in Soweto just a ticking time bomb?

This month, the Gauteng department of health said that in a bid to address the high demand for mental healthcare at the hospital, it was converting a section of the facility into a dedicated 14-bed psychiatry ward.

Gauteng department of health spokesperson Kwara Kekana said between January last year and last month, 30 patients and nine staff members had been attacked by mental health patients.

Kekana added there was always security placed in sections with mental health patients.

“Owing to their condition, some mental care patients tend to display aggressive behaviour towards staff and other patients,” she said.

ALSO READ: Life Esidimeni inquest shows why ‘mental health must be taken seriously’

The department was confident that in addition to security measures in place, this facility would relieve pressure on other wards.

The department also said the hospital had admitted 2,319 psychiatric patients since January last year.

Dr Ivan de Klerk, a clinical and forensic psychologist, said it was no secret mental healthcare in South Africa was severely neglected, “even at higher-level psychiatric care”.

Mental health professionals were scared to refer patients to the Weskoppies, Sterkfontein, and Valkenberg hospitals because of the abuse they have to endure.

“It’s sad but not a secret among mental healthcare professionals,” he said.

The state of mental healthcare on a government level was also severely lacking. De Klerk said recently hospitals had started taking on involuntary psychiatric patients because sending them to state hospitals was too risky.

“I’m surprised they recorded only 39 assaults, I suspect it’s more like double,” he said.

This month, the Life Esidimeni inquest was adjourned until Monday, to allow for non-governmental organisations to obtain legal representation.

The inquest was heard virtually by the High Court in Pretoria to determine which entity should be held criminally liable for the 2016 deaths of 144 people, who died from starvation and neglect.

The former Gauteng department of health’s deputy director-general, Dr Richard Lebethe, and the Gauteng health department’s former head of planning, policy and research, Levy Mosenogi, were among those who testified at the inquiry.

Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow MEC for health Jack Bloom said he was concerned by the continuing lack of measures to avoid violence by psychiatric patients at this hospital.

“This is despite the terrible incident in May last year, when an elderly patient was stabbed to death by a mentally ill patient, who also injured another patient,” Bloom said.

He said it was disappointing that proper arrangements had still not been made to ensure the safety and wellbeing of psychiatric patients at Bheki Mlangeni.

“The hospital admitted that there were inadequate beds for psychiatric patients, particularly because the accident and emergency unit always had an overflow of patients who had to wait for a bed to become available In the wards.”

Bloom said another problem was that the psychiatric unit at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital was always full.

“The DA believes that the Life Esidimeni tragedy highlighted shameful neglect of mental health patients which needs to be rectified at all health facilities in Gauteng.”

Bloom said the important principle at stake was that politicians should not be able to escape responsibility by blaming officials.

“I hope that the inquest fully probes the premier’s involvement, but this should not exempt [former Gauteng health MEC Qedani] Mahlangu from her culpability for the deaths of the 144 patients,” Bloom said.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za