Bheki Mlangeni Hospital in Soweto records 39 assaults on staff and patients by other psychiatric since January last year. The Gauteng Health MEC, Nomathemba Mokgethi disclosed that from the assaulted victims, 30 were mental health patients and 9 were employees.
“I am very concerned by the continuing lack of measures to avoid violence by psychiatric patient at this hospital.”
“This is despite the terrible incident in May last year when an elderly patient was stabbed to death by a mentally ill patient who also injured another patient,” MEC Mokgethi says.
MEC Mokgethi added that the hospital has admitted 2 319 psychiatric patients since January last year but does not have a dedicated psychiatric ward.
“The only arrangement is 14 beds reserved for male psychiatric patients and 12 beds for female users in medical wards,” she added.
She also said that the hospital admits that there are inadequate beds for psychiatric patients, particularly because the Accident and Emergency Unit always has an overflow of patients, who have to wait for a bed to become available in the wards.
“A 14 bed unit is being refurbished on the ground floor to become a male psychiatric ward, and referral system is being strengthened to transfer confirmed psychiatric patients to higher-level hospitals after 72 hours of observation,” Mokgethi added.
