DA shocked that KZN patients aren’t being shocked

DA spokesperson on health in KwaZulu-Natal Dr Imran Keeka has said they were “stunned” by the revelation that mental health patients are being made to wait for electro-convulsive therapy (ECT).

In a statement on Wednesday, Keeka said they had established that ECT was being withheld from at least 18 patients a month at Townhill Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, and wrote to MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo to call for urgent action to address the issue that there weren’t enough nurses to administer the treatment, despite the equipment being there.

“According to the DA’s professional source, while the hospital’s ECT unit is now established and the equipment is in situ, it cannot be used due to a lack of nursing staff. The department apparently received submissions for these vacant posts some four months ago, yet it has failed to act. Meanwhile, the facility’s nursing manager refuses to allocate professional nurses to the unit.

“The DA is stunned by this revelation. It is unacceptable that this situation exists at the expense of suffering patients.”

Keeka explained that electro-convulsive therapy is used when severe depression is unresponsive to other forms of therapy.

“It is also often used when patients pose a severe threat to themselves or others and it is too dangerous to wait until medications take effect. Given these factors, the seriousness of the situation at Townhill cannot be underestimated.

“The DA expects MEC Dhlomo to act immediately to ensure that this Unit is working as it should be. It is on his watch that mentally impaired patients are being made to wait for the help they so desperately need.”

He alleged that the MEC had already shown that government was not taking the needs of the mentally unwell seriously enough.