After a mentally ill man out on a day pass fled the country on an international flight, Canada’s largest psychiatric hospital announced Wednesday it has launched an external review of its procedures around the privileges it grants to forensic patients.

According to remarks posted on Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) website Wednesday, Dr. Catherine Zahn, hospital president and CEO, said the review would examine recent “incidents” that have caused community concern with the aim to produce recommendations.

“We have a duty to our patients and families, our physicians and staff, our neighbourhood and community, and our province and country to do better,” Zahn said in the statement. “I take that duty very seriously.”

The announcement of an external review comes one week after both the hospital and Toronto police came under fire for the handling of the disappearance of Zhebin Cong, a forensic patient who earlier this month managed to board an international flight while out on an unaccompanied public pass from CAMH.

Cong, 48, was found not criminally responsible (NCR) for second-degree murder in the 2014 death of his roommate, who he killed with a meat cleaver. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and has been a patient at CAMH since he was given the ‘not criminally responsible’ designation.

Cong went missing on July 3 but Toronto police did not notify the public about Cong until July 14 — a delay that has been criticized by Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Police have since launched an internal review of how they handled the case but have stated they were informed that Cong was considered low risk.

That’s contrary to a May report by the Ontario Review Board (ORB), which reviews the status of those found not criminally responsible, that said Cong continues to present “a significant threat to the safety of the public.”

Police have confirmed Cong boarded an international flight on July 3, the same day he went missing, but have not revealed where he went. He’d recently expressed a desire to return to his native China, according to the ORB report.

Another CAMH patient briefly went missing earlier this week. Ahmed Sualim, who was found not criminally responsible for a series of robberies, disappeared from the hospital on Monday but was found later that night.

The external review is in addition to an already initiated internal CAMH examination of its own communication procedures with the police, the ORB, the community and other partners, Zahn said.

Zahn said the review will look at recent incidents “to inform CAMH practice in the context of the broader forensic psychiatry system.” The hospital is in the process of naming a review chair and locating international experts to participate and help form recommendations.

She stressed that CAMH has two responsibilities: protecting the public, while providing mental health treatment “with the ultimate goal of integrating people back into community.”

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“People with mental illness can and do get better. It’s our responsibility as a health care provider to support patients in their recovery.”

Zhan has asked for the review to be completed by year’s end.

With Star files