About 150 recovered patients at the Haidian district mental health hospital have no homes to return to, the Beijing Youth Daily reports. In some cases, their parents died years ago. In others, close family members simply did not believe the patients had recovered and refused to accept them.
Li Wenxiu, the director of the hospital, said a total of 300 patients live in the hospital, and 180 of them applied to go home after decades of being hospitalized.
A man surnamed Yang who was hospitalized for more than 20 years said he wished to find a job and live a normal life after he was discharged. But he had no parents alive, and his only sister told him to continue living in the hospital as her house was very small.
Li said the patients have no way to sue their families to accept them, and the hospital is also powerless.
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