High death figure in rehabilitation centre raises question

An exceptional high number of deaths at a rehabilitation centre in Helsinki has raised questions regarding the services to the drug addicted and mental patients at the centre operated by the Sininauhasäätiö (a unit of Finnish Blue Ribbon organizations).

A total of five people died in the rehabilitation centre till October this year and the number was exceptionally abnormal, police and rehabilitation centre sources said. “The figure is exceptionally high in the rehabilitation, which is neither a hospital nor a nursing home,” Superintendent of Helsinki police Jere Roimu said. The Executive Director of the Sininauhasäätiö Aarne Kiviniemi has also admitted that several deaths took place in the unit this year. “Majority of our residents have been living in desperate conditions before they came to us and may have spent many years of being marginalized,” said Kiviniemi. The Töölö based unit is not drug exempt, said sources.