South African official quits over deaths of 94 patients

By Hassan Isilow

PRETORIA, South Africa (AA) - The health minister for South Africa’s most populous province resigned Wednesday after it emerged 94 psychiatric patients died after being transferred to unlicensed clinics.

Qedani Mahlangu stepped down as health chief for Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, following a damning ombudsman report on her department’s handling of the deaths.

Ombudsman Malegapuru Makgoba said at least 1,300 patients were transferred between April and June last year from a hospital run by Life Healthcare Esidimeni after the Gauteng Health Department terminated its contract with Esidimeni.

Mahlangu cancelled the contract in March last year to cut costs.

Among the clinics to receive the patients were 27 NGOs operating unlawfully with either incorrect licenses or no license at all.

“All patients who died in these NGOs died under unlawful circumstances,” Makgoba said at the launch of his report in Pretoria.

He also criticized the health department’s organization of the patient transfer. “The programme of action they undertook was described by almost every stakeholder as chaotic, in shambles and rushed,” Makgoba said, according to the Eyewitness News website.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura said Mahlangu had accepted responsibility for the errors. “I have accepted her resignation and I should have taken action,” he said.

The deaths of 36 patients were first reported last September leading to public outrage.

“Some patients were transferred directly from ‘sick bays’ to the NGOs; others were transferred with co-morbid medical conditions that required highly specialized medical care,” the ombudsman’s report said.

The report recommended that the patients still at NGOs should be moved to hospitals to receive proper care.