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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for an inquiry into the suicide of a seven-month pregnant woman at Kopanong Hospital last week.
The woman had been admitted to Kopanong Hospital on 7 September as a psychiatric patient. Two days later, her mother was informed that she had hanged herself.
“I am horrified by the reported suicide of a 26-year-old pregnant woman at the Kopanong Hospital in Vereeniging who was admitted for mental illness,” said the DA’s Jack Bloom.
The woman was admitted to Ward 6 on Thursday last week, but on Saturday morning her mother was informed she had committed suicide by hanging herself in the bathroom. Her unborn baby died with her.
The incident happened just before World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September.
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Bloom, who is the Gauteng health shadow MEC, said the patient wasn’t placed in a psychiatric ward.
“Incompetence and misplaced priorities are to blame for the inadequate care of psychiatric patients at this hospital. When I visited in 2016 they had yet to finish a psychiatric ward that was supposed to be completed in 2007,” he said.
Bloom added that mental patients are often placed in ordinary wards because the one psychiatric ward for male patients is full.
The Gauteng Department of Health’s spokesperson Motalatale Modiba said the patient was originally in the maternity ward and then moved to a separate ward.
“As per our guidelines, the first episode psychosis patients are admitted in a medical ward. This [patient] was admitted in maternity ward 6, because [she was] 29 weeks pregnant,” he said.
“The patient was seen by a doctor who eventually diagnosed her. She was then admitted at a maternity ward where sedation and restraints were prescribed and applied. The patient was later nursed in a side ward due to her condition being triggered by crying babies,” Modiba added.
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Bloom said the death “highlights the lack of proper facilities for mental patients in our hospitals”.
“The DA will demand answers as to why psychiatric patients are still badly treated despite the Life Esidimeni tragedy where 144 patients died after being sent to unsuitable NGOs,” he added.
Modiba said the suicide has been reported to Saps, which has opened an inquest docket.
He said the Gauteng Department of Health’s quality assurance unit will also conduct an internal investigation as this case falls under what is called a ‘patient safety incident’. This process could take 60 days to conclude.
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