A provincial government in South Africa has been ordered by a judge to pay $15 million in damages to the families of at least 144 psychiatric patients who he said died from negligent behavior having being moved to unregistered facilities back in 2016.
Some 1,300 psychiatric patients were moved from a Life Healthcare Group unit to charities as part of the Gauteng’s health department measure to cut costs. The decision sparked a public outcry at the time.
On Monday, retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke who headed the inquiry into the deaths ruled that Gauteng provincial government overseeing the capital of Pretoria and commercial hub of Johannesburg- had violated the constitutional rights of the patients who died under their care/custody.
Moseneke said the provincial government’s actions were ”unjustified and reckless” while ordering the compensation to be paid to members of the deceased patients’ families. He said there was proof of irregular expenditure or fraud in the decision to move these patients to unregistered facilities.
Legal representation for the Gauteng health department had offered 200,000 Rand ($16,573), arguing the compensation be limited to common law damages, theoretically excluding any compensation for the violation of the rights of the patients.
At least 94 psychiatric patients have died due to negligent care after being moved to unregistered facilities according to a South African health report in 2017. The number is believed to be more if only more people would come forward with valuable information.
Public hospitals lack sufficient equipment and personnel. Some experts say mental health care in the country has seen its funding gutted over the years.
Neba Benson,
BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst
