The Gauteng department of health rejected offers from Life Esidimeni Healthcare to send out it’s own clinical staff to ensure that the NGOs were adequate and safe for patients, the arbitration heard on Wednesday.

The department further refused to disclose where the patients were being taken to, a tearful Dr Morgan Mkhatshwa told the arbitration hearing into the Esidimeni tragedy

His institution asked for the department’s plan and offered to help identify suitable NGOs for patients. A contract termination notice from the department was received in September 2015.

“We were told commissioned research showed that our facilities were too expensive…we asked for the cost study but the department told us they were not obliged to share that with us,” he said.

“These patients were not your average mentally ill patients, they were always assessed by experts and were not the kind of patients that one could send to communities. We wanted to know where they were to be taken to, we offered teams of experts to go evaluate the NGO facilities…that was declined.”

He said the department was told discharging over 2 000 patients within a month was not going to be possible or safe for the patients.

“These were psychiatric patients…they needed professional clinical staff in order to be evaluated. You need to also trial the place before you send them there permanently…when the department said they would send it’s own clinical experts, we rejected that.”

So angry were clinical staff at Esidimeni that most threatened to resign amidst the department’s disastrous plan.

“Our clinicians wanted to stage a walkout because they could not take that anymore…we begged them to stay and ensure that the patients were seen off to NGOs.”

He said it was sad to see people succumbing to political pressure.

“I am referring to medical professionals  with wonderful credentials who would not stand up for something that was against their oath…the top officials just sat there and said “it’s bad” and succumbed to the pressure from their bosses,” said Mkhatshwa.

The Esidimeni staff was very close with the many patients who had subsequently died, knew and understood them in a professional environment, he added.