The brutal murder of a 44-year-old patient at the Attica Psychiatric Hospital in Dafni, west of Athens, by another patient with a violent criminal history was the result of chronic deficiencies and understaffing, the head of the union representing workers at the facility said on Thursday.
“We are not a correctional facility, or a prison, or a detention center. We are a hospital that has provided, continues to provide and wants to keep providing care and treatment for people with mental illnesses,” Thomas Dimoulas told state broadcaster ERT.
His sentiments echoed those of another unionist, Thomas Dimoulas, who described the situation at the sprawling facility as a “battlefield,” in comments to Kathimerini.
The victim was admitted to the hospital west of Athens just a day before she was stabbed to death with a shard of glass from a broken bathroom mirror in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The perpetrator, a 46-year-old man, had been at the facility since last November, when he was committed to care by court order after stabbing another woman, aged 63, to death on the Ionian island of Corfu in August 2023, using a pen and a wooden fork. That attack also took place in a psychiatric hospital.
After killing the 44-year-old woman, the 46-year-old was able to run out of the hospital grounds, prompting a day-long manhunt. He was eventually tracked down and arrested on Wednesday night after a woman called the police to report seeing a man covered in blood walking along the highway headed westward for Skaramagas from Haidari.
ERT reported that the man was in a “frenzy” when he was arrested and told police officers he believed that his 44-year-old victim was the same woman he had killed in the summer of 2023.
He is due to face a prosecutor on Thursday and to be re-committed to a psychiatric facility.
An inquiry has been launched into Wednesday’s incident to ascertain how it was allowed to take place. Workers at the Dafni Psychiatric Hospital, though, have indicated that such incidents are practically inevitable given that the facility not only handles more cases than it can with its current staff, but also ones for which staff have not been properly trained and equipped.
According to data provided by staff at the facility, there were 311 patients or 225 beds in the wing of the hospital dedicated to particularly difficult cases. On February 18, the number of patients for the same number of beds came to 250.
Staff also say that the wing is on two floors and in an awkward shape that makes it difficult for doctors and nurses to keep an eye on patients. This wing additionally accommodates the area for patients who have been committed by court order after carrying out violent crimes.
“Ideally, there should be one nurse for every three psychiatric patients,” said a hospital worker who spoke to Kathimerini on the condition of anonymity, adding that only two nurses are on duty in this section during the night, with responsibility for more than 30 violent patients.