Eastern Cape's ticking psychiatric time bomb
Government is facing yet another ticking bomb involving psychiatric patients in an Eastern Cape psychiatric hospital.
On Friday a psychiatrist resigned citing the "degrading and inhumane" treatment of patients at the institution.
Dr Kiran Sukeri, a psychiatrist at the Tower Psychiatric Hospital in Fort Beaufort said he could no longer "remain silent" about the treatment of patients at the institution.
"I know what I'm going to tell you will jeopardise my safety, as well as that of my family, but I don't care. Those patients urgently need to be helped."
Sukeri said a far greater number of people have recently died at the hospital than the government is officially admitting.
In recent reports in the Eastern Cape daily and The Herald, the Eastern Cape health department is quoted as saying that 25 patients died at Tower hospital between 2012 and 2017.
Sukeri told City Press' sister newspaper, Rapport, that the hospital's deaths register recently "disappeared" and was replaced with a new one.
He showed Rapport copies of the "lost" register indicating at least 90 patients died at the institution since 2010 and four patients died in January alone.
Only two of the four deaths in January were signed off by a medical doctor, he added.
Link: https: //www.news24.com/SouthAfrica
On Friday a psychiatrist resigned citing the "degrading and inhumane" treatment of patients at the institution.
Dr Kiran Sukeri, a psychiatrist at the Tower Psychiatric Hospital in Fort Beaufort said he could no longer "remain silent" about the treatment of patients at the institution.
"I know what I'm going to tell you will jeopardise my safety, as well as that of my family, but I don't care. Those patients urgently need to be helped."
Sukeri said a far greater number of people have recently died at the hospital than the government is officially admitting.
In recent reports in the Eastern Cape daily and The Herald, the Eastern Cape health department is quoted as saying that 25 patients died at Tower hospital between 2012 and 2017.
Sukeri told City Press' sister newspaper, Rapport, that the hospital's deaths register recently "disappeared" and was replaced with a new one.
He showed Rapport copies of the "lost" register indicating at least 90 patients died at the institution since 2010 and four patients died in January alone.
Only two of the four deaths in January were signed off by a medical doctor, he added.
Link: https: //www.news24.com/SouthAfrica
This needs to be investigated. These are human beings we are talking about.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel like as black people, we will always be suppressed. We are free from apartheid but issues like these keep popping up. And the worst part is that, it's black people treating other black people in such a manner.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is so bad, the police should do something
ReplyDeleteThis has been going on for years. I doubt the police will start taking action now.
DeleteThis happens almost everywhere ... People with certain disorders r always discriminated
ReplyDeleteSome workers see them as a nuisance to both them and society.
DeleteHow awful!This is an issue that really need Department of Health to consider, people are dying for God's sake...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWe send people to get help in these hospitals and what happens, they are kept under even worser conditions. I'm disappointed by such things in the Eastern Cape
ReplyDeleteit's the goverment's role to ensure that we are safe in these facilities at the same time they need to ensure that when we go to these hospitals we come out healed or much better instead of worsening our condition because of the lack of love for the patients and the lack of needed medicine.. when we're in our hospital beds we're not only killed by our sicknesses or our diseases but mostly by the treatment we receive. this must end!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat is hurting me about this problem is that it only affects the 'black'
ReplyDelete