Mental health in harsh focus

A schizophrenic convict who went on a stabbing spree that saw four children dead and 30 injured at Anne Anne Kindergarten in Sham Shui Po on June 3, 1982 is still being kept in Castle Peak Hospital after serving part of a life sentence in Siu Lam Psychiatric Hospital.

After killing his 46-year-old mother and 18-year-old sister in their flat in Un Chau Street Estate, Lee Chi-hang, then 28, entered Anne Anne Kindergarten and stabbed the 34 children and injured other people before police grabbed him.

Lee was found to have paranoid schizophrenia, and with six counts of manslaughter and 19 of wounding against him a court ordered him to serve a life sentence in Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre. He was put in Castle Peak Hospital later.

The case was recalled in the wake of the butchering of two young women in Hollywood Plaza.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Saturday his cabinet will step up police patrols throughout the SAR, the Social Welfare Department will strengthen work at 24 community centers for mental health, and the Health Bureau and Hospital Authority will review procedures for mental disorders and convene a meeting on handling mental health issues.

As of December the 24 centers, set up in 2010, had served over 108,000 people.

But psychologist Ching Chi-kong said the number of case managers for psychiatric patients fails to meet targets.

Ching, director of the Mental Health Association of Hong Kong, which operates mental wellness centers, said figures in April showed case managers were stretched to handle 40 to 50 psychiatric patients each.

And many case managers - normally psychiatric nurses - quit amid the wave of migration.