Sowetans have called it names and claim that whenever a patient is admitted there, they end up dead. Bheki Mlangeni District Hospital situated in Jabulani, Soweto was supposed to be the answer to many prayers and relieve Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital of traffic but instead, this hospital is a curse. At some point residents demanded that the hospital be shutdown because they believed none of the staff working there were skilled to care for patients. The situation got worse when psychiatric patients made headlines with one horrific incident after another.

MANAGEMENT MUST FALL

Now the Independent Liberation and Allied Workers Union ( ILAWU) has called for the ultimate and immediate suspension of the entire management and the Hospital Board of Bheki Mlangeni  from their CEO to junior management.This decision was driven by an incident of a psychiatric patient who hanged himself.Last year 30 mental health patients and nine staff members were assaulted by psychiatric patients. In May last year an 84-year old man was stabbed to death by a psychiatric patient and one other patient got away with injuries from the same incident.

NO CAPACITY FOR MENTALLY ILL PATIENTS

Safety has been a growing issue at the hospital with capacity lacking to accommodate the growing number of mentally ill patients being admitted. Ilawu Secretary General Siphamandla Masimula said, "this unfortunate recent incident happened even though the psychiatric patients should always be observed by the nurses, security, and management of the hospital, as per the health policy and given the nature of the illness, as mental health patients. The question is where were the nurses, security, and management at this hospital when this incident happened?" asked Masimula.

NO BEDS FOR PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS

Early in the year the Gauteng Health MEC, Nomathemba Mokgethi said the  hospital had admitted 2 319 psychiatric patients since January last year but does not have a dedicated psychiatric ward. The only arrangement is 14 beds reserved for male psychiatric patients, and 12 beds for female users in medical wards. The hospital admitted  that there are inadequate beds for psychiatric patients, particularly because the Accident and Emergency Unit always has an overflow of patients who have to wait for a bed to become available in the wards.