Note to Editors: Please find a soundbite by Dr Jack Bloom MPL in English here.
The Democratic Alliance is deeply concerned about the relocation of 172 mental health patients from the Talisman Foundation in southern Johannesburg, which raises parallels with the Life Esidimeni tragedy.
Vulnerable psychiatric patients need to be moved from Talisman by mid-May as their landlord has given notice, but there are warning signs about the process followed and the inadequacy of alternative placements. There is a lack of transparency about where the patients are going, uncertainty about the readiness and suitability of receiving facilities, and families and caregivers have not been adequately consulted.
It is deeply worrying if decisions are primarily driven by administrative or financial considerations rather than clinical best practice and patient welfare.
We cannot ignore the painful lessons of Esidimeni, where 144 patients died after being transferred to unlicensed and ill-equipped NGOs in a reckless cost-cutting exercise.
Any relocation of mental health patients must be done with full transparency, proper clinical oversight, meaningful family consultation, and strict adherence to legal and ethical standards. Failure to do so risks repeating one of the worst human rights tragedies in our democratic history.
The DA will closely monitor this situation and demand full accountability from the Gauteng Department of Health to ensure that patient safety is not compromised.
We will not allow another Esidimeni tragedy to happen under our watch.