Durban - The mentally and physically handicapped in KwaZulu-Natal are the newest victims in government budget cuts as homes and hospitals caring for the poorest and most vulnerable are closed for lack of money.
The provincial health head of department, Sibongile Zungu, said the department had no budget to support homes and hospitals which were not part of its core mandate.
Altogether, the department
had been supporting 40 such homes to the tune of R300 million every year, she said.
“These patients’ conditions are permanent and cannot be corrected with medical treatment. We had to stop funding them to cut costs,” she said.
She said the department had supported the homes after international donors had pulled out their funding due to the economic recession.
One of the homes that is being shut is the Montebello Chronic Sick Home near Wartburg where, this week, the management will make arrangements for patients to return to their families.
However, Ethel Mthembu, the manager of the 51-year-old facility that caters for 100 seriously mentally and physically disabled people, said most had nowhere to go, as they had been left there at birth. She said the institution had exhausted the health department’s last allocation of R5m.
The Catholic Church started the home for the elderly in 1962, but it was soon flooded with disabled children.
Most of the patients, some as young as five years old, are bed-ridden.
On Friday, some families were at the institution to take their loved ones home, but many were nervous, as they did not have the experience to provide the special care the patients needed.
Sister Gloria Hlongwa said food supplies would run out before the end of the week. “Last month we had to use patients’ pensions to pay salaries, but this was not enough, as not everyone gets the grant.”
The institution spends R131 000 a month on nappies, groceries and lights and water. This excludes the cost of medical waste collection and maintaining washing machines.
Ntombikayise Ngubane, 51, has lived at Montebello since 1978. She cannot use her arms and legs and is bedridden.
“I wish they could find another home for me if this one is closing. I have never been outside this place since I arrived as a child. I know that my family is in Melmoth, but I don’t know if anyone is still alive because they stopped visiting me years ago,” said Ngubane.
When asked if his department could help, department of social welfare head of department, Bheki Nkosi, who has visited Montebello, said the health department was dealing with the situation. “For now, we request that we not be drawn into the matter.”
The Mercury