South Africa's Jesuit Institute has said it is appalled at Government actions that led to the deaths of 94 mentally ill patients in Gauteng province during 2016.
The deaths, caused by dehydration, septic bed sores and uncontrolled seizures, occurred after more than 1,300 patients were transferred from hospitals into unlicensed nongovernmental organisations in the northern province, said a 1 February report by South Africa’s health ombudsman.
In an apparent cost-cutting measure by Gauteng’s provincial health department, 27 “mysteriously and poorly selected” organisations transported people from Life Esidimeni hospital in open pickup trucks after choosing them as if they were at “an auction cattle market,” the ombudsman’s report said.
The ombudsman found that the organisations then failed to provide seriously ill people with enough food and water, leaving them severely malnourished and, in some cases, dying from dehydration.
The country's Jesuit institute called the report’s findings a violation of human rights.
“By undercutting basic standards of care, what we have seen is contempt for the right of vulnerable people to the basics of a decent life,” the Jesuit Institute said, adding that “this has resulted in disastrous and, in many cases, lethal consequences, ” the Johannesburg-based Jesuit Institute said.
The provincial Government should ensure that families who lost loved ones are “expeditiously compensated,” the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference justice and peace commission said in a statement.
The incident is an extreme example of over 150 years of “inadequate to atrocious” mental health care for poor people in South Africa, said Anthony Egan, a Jesuit and part-time lecturer in medical ethics at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Egan, speaking to the Tablet, described the deaths as a scandal that the state had allowed to happen. “Catholic Social Ethics pertaining to option for the poor, human rights, and dignity of persons - among others - reminds us of a state's duty to care for the most vulnerable,” he added.
“It's exploitation of the vulnerable. It's a pro-life issue," Fr Russell Pollitt SJ, the Institute’s Director, told The Tablet this week.
He called on the South African Government to take heed of procedures and professional advice in the future, adding that the Government’s decision to move the patients was “cash motivated”. The ombudsman gave the province’s health department 45 days to ensure that all remaining patients are urgently moved and placed in appropriate health establishments.
Catholic groups were involved in a candlelit vigil held on 2 February in Johannesburg for the 94 patients.
PICTURE: Candle-lit vigil in Johannesburg for the 94 mentally ill patients who died last year due to negligence.
Photo courtesy of Catholic News Service.
Loading ...
