As part of improving mental health services, Gauteng Provincial Government will now ensure that 10% of District Hospital beds and 5% of Regional Hospitals beds are set aside for acutely ill mental health care users.
This was announced by Gauteng Premier, David Makhura during the first State of the Province for the sixth administration on Monday, 1 July 2019 in Soweto. 
Makhura said government will further integrate mental health and rehabilitation services in all public health care facilities.
"We will also strengthen community awareness campaigns on mental health," said Makhura adding that mental healthcare has been one of the major areas of chronic neglect, patient abuse and under-investment in the province. 
He further said providing quality health care to all residents of Gauteng remained one of the provincial government's key priorities.
"I must point out that our public healthcare system continues to face a crisis of public confidence. We must fix it urgently because the cost of failure is too huge," he added.
He noted that there was a public outcry that some of the provincial hospitals were becoming mortuaries instead of sanctuaries for saving lives. 
"We have learnt from the Life Esidimeni tragedy that mental healthcare needs a hands-on approach that focuses on getting things done properly in every facility and directing all resources and efforts there," said Makhura.​