Twenty-one mental health patients discharged after the Gauteng Health Department cancelled its contract with Life Esidimeni are still missing. That’s according to Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa in an oral reply to the DA’s question in the Gauteng Legislature.
The patients are said to have left Esidimeni between November 2015 and October 2016.
Ramokgopa says efforts are being made to locate the patients, including checking Non-Governmental Organisations, hospitals and other provinces.
DA member of the legislature Jack Bloom says “It’s tragic that patients are still missing more than two years after the Life Esidimeni tragedy. This tragedy won’t be put behind until we find the 21 missing patients. It just highlights the fact that the perpetrators of the Esidimeni disaster need to appear in court as soon as possible and be held to account for what they did.”
