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South Africa: NGOs Were Unprepared to Take On Mental Healthcare Users, Testifies Former Gauteng Health Official
Daily Maverick, 19 January 2022
The former deputy director of the Gauteng Department of Health Mental Health Directorate, Hendricka Jacobus, was back on the stand on Wednesday at the inquest into the death of 144… Read more »
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South Africa: NGOs Where Life Esidimeni Patients Were Placed Did Not Have Service-Level Agreements - Ex-Gauteng Health Official
Daily Maverick, 19 January 2022
A number of departmental requirements, such as service-level agreements and food specifications, were not complied with by NGOs where 144 mental health patients were placed, a… Read more »
Inquest into South African Mental Health Patients' Deaths Resumes
A virtual sitting of the Pretoria High Court has seen testimony exposing the poor level of care and administration provided for the 144 mental health patients of the Life Esidimeni facility who died in 2016.
Former deputy director of the Gauteng Department of Health Mental Health Directorate, Hendricka Jacobus, who was responsible for overseeing the NGOs to which patients were moved during the so-called "Marathon Project", testified that the NGOs to which patients were allocated were neither audited nor "properly licensed".
The Life Esidimeni crisis made headlines in 2016 when the deaths of the 144 mental health patients who were transferred to 27 unlicensed NGOs were reported. A subsequent probe into the tragedy by the National Prosecting Authority was created and welcomed by welcomed by the public interest law centre SECTION27 and the Life Esidimeni Family Committee.
InFocus
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The Life Esidimeni crisis made headlines in 2015 when the deaths of 143 mental health patients who were transferred to 27 unlicensed NGOs were reported. Six years after the ... Read more »
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An inquest by the National Prosecting Authority into the deaths of the 144 mental healthcare users who were transferred from the Life Esidimeni facility to unlicensed ... Read more »
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Five Life Esidimeni patients have been traced, the Gauteng Health Department has confirmed, leaving 16 still unaccounted for. The five were among 21 patients who were discharged ... Read more »
