Gauteng health department gave NGO Precious Angels R1m, Barbara Creecy says
The Gauteng finance MEC says when former health HOD Barney Selebano and MEC Qedani Mahlangu said they wanted to end the Esidimeni deal‚ they made no mention of using NGOs to care for patients
Precious Angels‚ the most deadly nongovernmental organisation (NGO) in the Life Esidimeni saga‚ received R1m from the Gauteng department of health. In total‚ 18 patients died in two homes called Precious Angels, run by owner Ethel Ncube. The figures were released by Gauteng MEC for finance Barbara Creecy‚ who was testifying at the Life Esidimeni hearings. The hearings aim to find out why 1‚700 patients were moved from three Esidimeni psychiatric homes into ill-equipped NGOs‚ leading to the deaths of 143 patients. Creecy disclosed that R47m was spent on NGOs in place of the Life Esidimeni contract. Life Esidimeni homes provided care to chronically ill psychiatric patients at a cost of about R260m a year. The health department said it ended the contract to save money.
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