Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Forensic science officers prepare to inspect the scene of an arson and knife attack by a reportedly schizophrenic man at an apartment building in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, Wednesday. /Yonhap |
By Bahk Eun-ji
The government will be more actively engaged in treating psychiatric patients who are highly likely to commit acts of violence against others or themselves, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday.
The move comes after an arson and stabbing attack Wednesday by a man who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He killed five people and injured 13 at an apartment complex in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. It also follows the death of renowned psychiatrist Lim Se-won at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul last year who was stabbed by one of his patients suffering from bipolar disorder.
After the psychiatrist's death, calls grew for the government to more intensively look into the system of management for patients with serious mental health problems, particularly for those who refuse to get outpatient treatment after leaving hospital, which was the case in the Jinju arson and murder case.
 |
| Ahn In-deuk, a suspect in an arson and murder case at an apartment in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, is escorted by police officers out of Jinju Police Station, Friday, to receive treatment for an injury to his hands he sustained during an attack on his neighbors, Wednesday. Yonhap |
The government has sought to revise the relevant law toward that end and the National Assembly passed a revision recently.
The revision bill will take effect in 2020. It stipulates when a mentally ill person with a high risk of harming themselves or others leaves a hospital or nursing home, the institute should notify regional mental health or public health centers in the neighborhood of the person being discharged, even without the consent of the patient or their "guardian." The centers should then seek get those patients to visit for checkups or counseling.
When people with mental illnesses refuse outpatient treatment after being discharged, local government heads can order them to visit a doctor and receive treatment at the request of the regional health center. Thus far, such a process required consent from a guardian, but this was removed in the revision.
The government will also seek to register such patients, following initial diagnosis, with local hospitals, to allow them to get treatment there, and will provide financial support for medical fees if necessary.
"The ministry will financially support patients with psychiatric problems with after-care programs and state-covered insurance," said Hong Jung-ik, director general of the ministry's mental healthcare welfare bureau.
If a mental patient commits a crime, an emergency care team will be dispatched to the scene together with police officers to determine the offender's stability level, and offer counseling. The person can also be forcibly sent to a hospital for treatment if necessary.
The measures follow criticism in the Jinju case that the police had difficulty in finding out whether the suspect had a mental illness even though his neighbors had previously reported his threatening behavior to them many times.
