Attempts are being made to get the elderly out of old age homes and back into their communities. 

The Mpumalanga department of health and social services has set aside R484 200 for a pilot project to reintegrate 300 elderly people with their families and friends this year. 

"We want to get rid of all institutions that alienate old people. Just because you get old doesn't mean you stop living and feeling," said department spokesperson Mpho Gabashane. 

He said 1 130 old people were living in 18 institutions in Mpumalanga. 
The province spends up to R11,7m annually to take care of them. 
Many neglected at home 

Gabashane said the department would identify care givers within communities who can help take care of the elderly who are reintegrated into their communities. 

"The care givers will check on them and provide them with the necessary attention," said Gabashane. 

He said that if the pilot project was successful, it would be rolled out across the province. 

Gabashane acknowledged that most old people ended up in institutions because they were abused and neglected at home. 

He said an Elder Abuse Register would therefore be established to allow the department to identify abused people and to come up with strategies to protect them. 

Meanwhile, mentally ill people from Mpumalanga will also be registered on a computer database. 

A 250-bed facility has been built in Belfast for chronically mentally ill people, which will allow patients to remain in the province instead of being transferred to Gauteng for treatment. 

"When those transfers were made, information was stored on paper, and the paper trail is not 100% reliable," said Gabashane. 

He said the facility also made it cheaper for family members to visit patients. 
"Imagine coming from a deep rural area and having to travel to Johannesburg and pay for two nights accommodation," said Gabashane. 

He said the province also has two facilities for acute cases at Rob Ferreira Hospital, which has 36 beds, and Witbank Hospital, which has 24 beds. 
There are also nine 72-hour assessment centres at Embhuleni, Piet Retief, Bethal, Ermelo, Mmamethlake, Middelburg, Lydenburg, Themba and Shongwe hospitals. 

Gabashane said the government also wants to be more politically correct when referring to mentally ill people. 

The Mental Health Act says mentally ill patients should be referred to as "mental health care users". 

"We are trying to be more user-friendly. We also want to call our patients clients, because we provide a service to them. It is not a master-servant relationship," said Gabashane.