Manager: They need to check their list

IN RESPONSE to a release sent yesterday by the Ministry of Health, indicating that the mental institution located on Dookham Hill, off La Canoa Road in Santa Cruz was not registered, the manager of the home insists this is not the case.

She suggested there may be something wrong with the list of homes registered under the ministry.

“I am really trying to get this behind me. I am not trying to bring up nothing again because for the past week I keep seeing this in the papers.

“I am trying to drop this whole thing and not make any more of this, so they probably need to double check their listing.”

She refused to give any additional details to Newsday about the home, including its name.

The ministry announced that the home was not registered under the Private Hospitals Act nor has the minister issued a certificate approving the use of the home as a registered home for the reception of people who are mentally ill and in need of care and treatment under the Mental Health Act.

The ministry said a team inspected and assessed the home and a formal report on their findings will be produced shortly.

The home came under public scrutiny after one of its residents went on a rampage and stabbed six others and a nurse last Saturday. According to reports, the woman who did the stabbing had been admitted to the home four days prior, but kept insisting she was kidnapped.

Newsday understands the wounded people have since been discharged from hospital and re-admitted to the home, while the woman remains in police custody.