TimesLive reports that thirty-two members of staff at Helen Joseph Hospital in Gauteng have been assaulted by psychiatric patients since the beginning of the year.

This is according to Gauteng health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi, who responded in a written reply to a query from DA Gauteng shadow health MEC Jack Bloom. The patients have also caused “extensive property damage” at the hospital. Last week Sunday Times spoke to a senior member of staff at the hospital who said the psychiatric departments were in crisis, as patients who did not have access to, or were not taking their medication, had worsening symptoms and were not stable. She said long queues of these patients, some suffering psychotic conditions, made the environment unsafe for staff and patients. In a statement on Tuesday, Bloom said incidents had increased because of a massive increase in the number of psychiatric patients after the fire at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital closed its psychiatric unit. “Staff live in fear because of the violence from psychiatric patients,” he indicated. According to Bloom, extra staff and security were urgently needed, but the real problem was the continued closure of psychiatric wards at Charlotte Maxeke and the general shortage of beds in the province for mental health patients.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Alex Patrick at TimesLive

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