Escapees are ill not petitioners, hospital insists
By Li Qian |
July 13, 2013, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE 42 patients who absconded from a psychiatric hospital in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region last week all have genuine mental health problems, local officials insisted yesterday.
Health officials were seeking to dispel rumors that some of the group had been taken to Tengxian County No. 3 People's Hospital because they had repeatedly petitioned the local government.
Suspicions had been raised after the hospital's deputy director, Hu Chaoyun, revealed that several patients had been sent there by police.
But Liu Xianjie, head of the local health bureau, denied this.
Police sent 18 patients, many of whom had shown a propensity for violence, after their families had asked officers to help, said Liu.
Every one suffers from mental illness, he added.
The breakout took place on Friday evening last week, when a patient grabbed nursing attendant Zeng Chaozhong from behind while two others took money, keys and a mobile phone from his pockets, according to The Beijing News.
Many other patients joined the group and together they left the hospital.
"The leader told me he was homesick and wanted to go home," Zeng said.
Police brought back most of the patients that night and last four were found eating breakfast at a plaza the next morning, the paper reported.
The hospital said seven of the 42 patients have criminal records.
Their ringleader stabbed his wife to death in 2008, but did not get a jail sentence as he was diagnosed as schizophrenia, Hu said.
Though his condition improved, his poverty-ridden family refused to take him back, hospital records showed.
Liu attributed the incident to chaotic management and poor medical conditions.
The hospital is the only one to accept mentally ill people in Tengxian County.
It has 300 patients and only 60 nursing assistants in the psychiatric department. Nearly 20 patients have to share a room, Liu said.
The hospital will recruit 12 nursing assistants and security guards, and some patients will be transferred to psychiatric hospital in other parts of the region, he added.
Health officials were seeking to dispel rumors that some of the group had been taken to Tengxian County No. 3 People's Hospital because they had repeatedly petitioned the local government.
Suspicions had been raised after the hospital's deputy director, Hu Chaoyun, revealed that several patients had been sent there by police.
But Liu Xianjie, head of the local health bureau, denied this.
Police sent 18 patients, many of whom had shown a propensity for violence, after their families had asked officers to help, said Liu.
Every one suffers from mental illness, he added.
The breakout took place on Friday evening last week, when a patient grabbed nursing attendant Zeng Chaozhong from behind while two others took money, keys and a mobile phone from his pockets, according to The Beijing News.
Many other patients joined the group and together they left the hospital.
"The leader told me he was homesick and wanted to go home," Zeng said.
Police brought back most of the patients that night and last four were found eating breakfast at a plaza the next morning, the paper reported.
The hospital said seven of the 42 patients have criminal records.
Their ringleader stabbed his wife to death in 2008, but did not get a jail sentence as he was diagnosed as schizophrenia, Hu said.
Though his condition improved, his poverty-ridden family refused to take him back, hospital records showed.
Liu attributed the incident to chaotic management and poor medical conditions.
The hospital is the only one to accept mentally ill people in Tengxian County.
It has 300 patients and only 60 nursing assistants in the psychiatric department. Nearly 20 patients have to share a room, Liu said.
The hospital will recruit 12 nursing assistants and security guards, and some patients will be transferred to psychiatric hospital in other parts of the region, he added.
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