The Free State Department of Health confirmed that the medical ward [M3] staff was on a go-slow on Monday regarding psychiatric patients in the ward. The department’s spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, told OFM News that they are shocked by this discovery.

“In our experience, to the best of our knowledge, there are two cubicles in the medical ward which are assigned for 72 hours observation. We are only admitting patients for 72 hours observation as per the Mental Health Act, and therefore those patients that come into this ward cannot be discriminated against. 

"Sometimes we know that we have a problem of relatives who are taking longer to collect some of their patients, and those patients cannot be discharged into the streets. They are discharged and kept in the ward while they are waiting for their next of kin to collect them,” says Mvambi.

OFM News previously reported that staff members at the Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital in Bloemfontein were on a go-slow as they are refusing to treat psychiatric patients. 

Meanwhile, the employees stated that they are mostly concerned about their safety and that of patients, following a number of incidents relating to psychiatric patients in the ward.

Mpho Mohapi/OFM News