Question NW1872 to the Minister of Health
31 July 2017 - NW1872
Thembekwayo, Dr S to ask the Minister of Health
Whether he is aware that, since the psychiatric ward of Tshilidzini Hospital was burnt down in 2010, psychiatric patients are being admitted to the medical surgical ward, as they do not have a dedicated ward; if so, what steps has his department taken in this regard?
Reply:
Since the psychiatric unit at Tshilidzini Hospital was burnt down and declared uninhabitable by the architects, mental health services at this hospital have been scaled down to provide only emergency admissions and 72 hour assessment of involuntary mental health care users. Designated cubicles in the medical ward (eight male and four female beds) are utilized for this purpose. Following the 72 hour assessment process, where further inpatient care treatment and rehabilitation is required, patients are transferred to hospitals that have functional mental health units such as Donald Fraser, Siloam, and Malamulela Hospitals.
The re-development of the entire Tshilidzini Hospital is in the planning phase and provides for the construction of a full psychiatric unit.
END.