MORE than half of the mental health patients transferred from Life Esidimeni Waverley Care Centre to NGOs were not suitable for transfer.
This is what Zanele Buthelezi, nursing manager at Waverley Care Centre, told the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, 7 September during the Life Esidimeni inquest proceedings. She said: “Because of their conditions, 60% of mental healthcare users were not suitable for transfer. They needed a structured environment.”
Legal representations acting on behalf of the NGOs and Gauteng Department of Health officials cross-examined her, referring to sections of affidavits mostly involving preparation of the patients before transfer. Buthelezi said the department provided them with a list used as a guideline indicating how many patients would be transferred, either to NGOs or hospitals, as well as discharged to their homes.
She said they were given a date on which patients would be transferred, and only physical assessments were done on the day of the transfer. But she said the process was later rushed.
“The first and second batch of mental healthcare users to be transferred went well according to what we had agreed upon. There was sufficient time to transfer and the patients were assessed and reassessed by the Life Esidimeni multi-disciplinary team,” said Buthelezi.
She said there wasn’t proper planning with the next group of patients, and they relied on department officials placed at Waverley Care Centre for medical assessments done six months prior to the transfer.
“The number of patients to be transferred was the primary objective for the Department of Health.”
But she dismissed claims that patients left without enough medication, clothes and proper documentation. She insisted that on the day of the transfer, leaving patients were kept in the waiting room for the arrival of the transport and when the bus came, they were handed over to department officials facilitating the process. But the department said they never took patients in their custody, they were handed directly to NGOs.
She said instructions received from the former managing director, Dr Morgan Mkhatshwa, were that facility clinicians should hand over patients to department clinicians. Allegations heard before the court stated that some patients left the facility weak and frail. When asked whose responsibility it was to put the interest of mental patients before any interest, Buthelezi said the responsibility lied on both Life Esidimeni and the department.
