Manamela: Efforts were made to help NGOs to take care of Life Esidimeni patients

JOHANNESBURG - Former director of mental health in Gauteng Makgabo Manamela told the Life Esidimeni Inquest on Thursday that the health department went to great lengths to assist struggling non-governmental organisations (NGO)s before psychiatric patients were moved to the facilities.

This included sourcing donations for beds and furniture.

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More than 1,400 psychiatric patients were moved from Life Esidimeni facilities to state hospitals and community-based facilities in the province.

Of those, 144 patients died in the aftermath.

Manamela and other former health officials have to account for the botched transfer project.

This week, the inquest dealt with the state of the hospitals and NGOs where mental health patients were placed after they were moved from the Life Esidimeni facilities.

The inquest heard evidence of grown men sleeping in baby cots at Precious Angels in Atteridgeville. This is the same NGO where 23 deaths were reported, the highest death toll at a single facility.

More than 10 deaths were also reported at Takalani Home in Soweto.

Manamela admitted some of the newly-established NGOs were ill-equipped before the transfers but said efforts were made to provide them with essentials.

But the issues persisted even after patients had been admitted to the new facilities, with shortages of medication, shortages in bed capacity, as well as food shortages.

The inquest, sitting at the Pretoria High Court, continues with Manamela’s testimony.

It’s set to determine if anyone should be held criminally liable for the 2016 tragedy.