One death and 8 assaults at Tembisa Psychiatric Ward
7 May 2018
Eight staff members have been assaulted by psychiatric patients at the Tembisa Hospital since January last year, and the death of one psychiatric patient at the hospital is being investigated by police.
This is revealed by Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa in a written reply to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.
According to Ramokgopa, there is one 30 bed psychiatric ward for 72 hour observation as required by law, of which 20 beds are for males and 10 beds for females.
But psychiatric patients are often placed in ordinary wards because the male section “almost always runs at 100% capacity/bed occupancy”.