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Life Esidimeni

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In the eight years since the Gauteng health department ended its contract with a private psychiatric hospital group, Life Esidimeni, to look after long-term state mental health patients, a tragedy of 144 people dying and 44 going missing at the hands of “an admittedly delinquent provincial government” has unfolded.

HomeArticlesRead the health ombud's full report into alleged abuse at Tower Psychiatric...

Read the health ombud’s full report into alleged abuse at Tower Psychiatric Hospital

The Eastern Cape’s Tower Hospital was billed as the country’s next “Life Esidimeni”.


On Thursday, health ombud Malegapuru Makgoba released an 88-page report detailing his investigation into alleged malpractice and human rights abuses at the Tower Psychiatric Hospital in Fort Beaufort, Eastern Cape. The investigation followed a formal complaint by a senior psychiatrist at the facility, who alleged that 90 patients had died in an eight-year period.

The report found that the death toll was inflated and that there was “no prima facie evidence of institutionalised, systematic or deliberate violations of Human Rights by staff at Tower Psychiatric Hospital and Psychosocial Rehabilitation Centre.”

[WATCH] Makgoba deliver his findings 

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