17 Esidimeni patients still missing

27 February 2019

Seventeen mental health patients who were discharged after the Gauteng Health Department cancelled its contract with Life Esidimeni have still not been found.

This was disclosed yesterday by Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa in an oral reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

She said that four of the missing patients had recently been tracked with the assistance of Home Affairs, which reduces to 17 the number of those unaccounted for, down from 21 a few months ago.

She insisted that her department was doing all that it could to find the remaining patients and there were “no delays whatsoever”.

I am unconvinced that the Department has done everything it could in speedy time to find the patients. According to Ramokgopa, they are only now planning to go back to Life Esidimeni to check the ID numbers and the names of the patients. Why wasn’t this done before?

I doubt that all the missing patients will be accounted for at this stage - many are probably dead, adding to the 144 other patients who died as a result of the arrogance, cruelty and corruption that caused the Esidimeni horror.

Their terrible fate should be added to the charges that the perpetrators should face in court.

Issued by Jack Bloom, DA Gauteng Shadow Health MEC, 27 February 2019