Home South Africa Manamela will continue to testify at the Life Esidimeni inquest – SABC...

Manamela will continue to testify at the Life Esidimeni inquest – SABC News

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Manamela will continue to testify at the Life Esidimeni inquest – SABC News

Former Gauteng mental health chief executive Dr Mmakgaba Manamela will on Thursday continue to investigate his role in the 2016 mass movement of mentally ill patients from Life Esidimeni.

The inquest will continue in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Manamela said they have occasionally received reports of patients dying during the move.

However, she denied suggestions that her department had ignored such reports.

The inquest is investigating the deaths of 144 mentally ill patients while they were being moved to ill-equipped and unlicensed non-government facilities across Gauteng.

This comes after the Gauteng Department of Health terminated Life Esidimeni’s contract citing budget constraints.

Through an interpreter, Manamela answered a question from one of the leaders of the evidence, lawyer Adila Hasim.

Adv Hasim: “And if we just look at the number [of people] who moved on to NGOs and Cullinan Care. Is 12 in NGO and 11 in Cullinan … have you done or tracked these cases in relation to death?

Manamela: “Yes, we sent some people [and] our board went to investigate what the problem was.”

VIDEO I Most of the patients were transferred to Pretoria, says Dr Manamela:

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