By Shaun Gillham
PATIENTS at Port Elizabeth’s dilapidated Elizabeth Donkin psychiatric hospital are living in overcrowded wards – with some having to sleep on the floor – and are subjected to abuse and neglect by uncaring nursing staff, former patients and voluntary workers have alleged.
One former patient vowed to “rather jump off Van Stadens Bridge” than be re-admitted to the facility which has been rocked by two suicides in the past two months.
Current and former patients who spoke to Weekend Post on condition of anonymity and a group of volunteers also claim that:
* Patients are degraded and made to feel like criminals in some wards;
* No distinction is made in the treatment of patients suffering different conditions – nervous breakdowns as opposed to drug abuse, for example;
* Patients are “herded” into showers in groups of up to six people while being verbally abused by staff;
* Patients are forced to immediately “go cold turkey” from any former medication such as sleeping tablets or tranquillisers and smoking upon entering the facility;
* There are not enough doctors and psychologists and sometimes days go by without patients being seen by them.
The father of the most recent suicide victim, Adam van Nies, believes overcrowding in E Ward, where his son was being treated, may have contributed to the young man’s death. Adam hanged himself with a sheet in a hospital bathroom on Sunday April 15. His father said he was told there were 60 patients in E Ward but only room for 32.
Although not yet officially confirmed, but verified by Elizabeth Donkin residents, one patient is believed to have simply walked out of the main gate of the complex within the last few weeks.
Humewood police spokesman Captain Stan Jarvis said while his interactions with the institution had been primarily around the recent suicides, there were “serious issues” being investigated by hospital management, the results of which would be presented to the provincial health department.
Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo has denied there is overcrowding at the facility. However, DA Eastern Cape shadow MEC for Health, John Cupido, slammed conditions at the Donkin, saying it had a history of overcrowding.
“Two recent suicides at an institution that has a past record of one to two suicides per decade is proof overcrowding is having a direct effect on the patients’ well-being – and the ability of the clinical and nursing staff to do their jobs effectively,” he said.
When contacted for comment, clinical head of the hospital, Dr Stoffel Grobler, confirmed he was taking steps in a bid to improve the facility. However he said he was “not authorised” to speak to the media about any of the allegations or the conditions there.
This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday April 14, 2012.
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