Medical expert Professor Abel Pienaar has told the Life Esidimeni Inquest currently underway at the High Court in Pretoria that facilities, that were used to accommodate mentally ill patients, lacked resources.
In his report, he has noted that staff shortages compromised the caring and monitoring of patients.
The 144 patients died of hunger, dehydration and neglect during and after they were moved to ill-equipped and unregistered NGOs.
Pienaar says the resources were way below international standards.
“The severe and profound the idea would be one is to five. But we are aware that ideal might not be like that in the practice. But at the most one is to ten. In a developing context because when we look at low and middle-income countries, we do not have the amount of resources that our higher-income countries have. So at the most, I would say one is to ten. Especially when you look at severe and profound. And that’s the practice,” explains Pienaar.
The video below, is the inquest into the deaths of 144 psychiatric patients:
