Date: Feb 26th 2014 11:50a.m.

Contributed by:
ktschroedes

Guangzhou was on alert as a a mental patient, suspected of killing a sanitation worker in October, walked out of the Guangzhou Psychiatric Hospital.  Many residents were unaware of the incident on Thursday until the city issued a text warning on its microblog on Friday.  At that time, the man had been on the loose for more than 24 hours.  This was alarming as there are many primary and kindergarten schools in the same neighborhood as the psychiatric hospital.

Thankfully the 39-year-old man was found in Foshan on Saturday, recaptured and sent back to the hospital.  Apparently the man had walked out after a routine health check while his caregiver was distracted, changed out of his hospital gown and escaped out a back door.  Jia Fujung, senior official at the Guangdong Health Department, is quoted as saying, “Few hospitals have psychiatric departments, and those in Guangdong are all full.  We have too few skilled medical workers.”