The psychiatry head of the Gauteng health department will consult a mentally ill woman after she attacked a fellow patient at a hospital.
Departmental spokesperson Popo Maja said on Tuesday the woman, being held at Sterkfontein mental hospital near Krugersdorp after she slit the throat of a pensioner at the Cresta shopping centre in Johannesburg, would be visited on Thursday.
”The head of psychiatry in Gauteng will be visiting the hospital to assess the patient and provide support in the further management of this patient,” he said.
Kanellie Hazikonstandinou (35) hit the headlines last year after the Cresta shopping centre incident.
Hazikonstandinou was committed to the hospital after a court found that she was not fit to stand trial for the murder of 81-year-old Maureen Naughtin.
Hazikonstandinou (35) a homeopathic practitioner, suffers from schizophrenia.
In January last year she apparently refused to take medication while in the Tara mental hospital in Johannesburg because of her belief in alternative medicine. She was then transferred to Sterkfontein hospital from where she was released in May.
The attack on Naughtin took place in September.
In the latest attack, on Sunday, Maja said a patient broke a window in a ward and during the commotion, Hazikonstandinou took a shard of glass and hid it. She subsequently injured another patient who sustained a superficial laceration. This patient was treated and was in a satisfactory condition.
He said Hazikonstandinou was ”noted” to be potentially dangerous and was put under special observation and sedated.
Maja described Hazikonstandinou as a ”very difficult person to manage”.
”People respond differently to medication. Every time her dosage is increased, she becomes resistant to the medication,” he said.
As part of the continuous monitoring and management of Hazikonstandinou, Maja said a meeting of senior staff of the forensic unit of the department was convened on January 19 to re-evaluate the woman.
Since then a professional nurse had been allocated to monitor Hazikonstandinou on a 24-hour basis, and she was put on an incremental medical regimen to ensure optimal control of her medical condition.
He said the nurse with the assistance of other nurses pulled Hazikonstandinou off the patient she attacked. – Sapa