Lawyers for a man accused of attempting to murder neurosurgeon Dr Michael Wong at the Western Hospital in Footscray are waiting for psychiatric reports to be finalised to determine if he was mentally impaired at the time.
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The Supreme Court was told on Wednesday there had been a delay in medical information being provided from Kareem Al-Salami's treating doctors at Forensicare and the Melbourne Assessment Prison where he is being held.
Forensicare is responsible for providing adult forensic mental health services in Victoria.
Justice Lex Lasry agreed to adjourn the matter to April 24 to allow the psychiatric experts more time to finalise their reports as to whether they believed Mr Al-Salami had been suffering from a psychosis at the time Dr Wong was attacked.
Mr Al-Salami, 49, has pleaded not guilty to 26 charges, including attempting to murder Dr Wong, intentionally causing serious injury and assaulting other hospital staff.
Justice Lasry was told at a previous hearing there were no issues surrounding the facts of the case and it would depend on the expert psychiatric reports to determine if Mr Al-Salami's defence to the charges would be mental impairment.
A nominal trial date has been set down for November 23.
A police summary tendered to the Melbourne Magistrates Court in February revealed Mr Al-Salami had been a patient of Dr Wong's and blamed him for his chronic neck, back and leg pain.
The next appointment Mr Al-Salami had scheduled with Dr Wong was on February 18, 2014, at 9.15am at the Western Hospital.
Dr Wong arrived for work that day at about 8.20am and was walking through the hospital foyer when Mr Al-Salami – who blamed the neurosurgeon for his chronic pain – allegedly stabbed him in the back with a 19cm Wiltshire stainless steel knife.
Dr Wong fell to the ground and Mr Al-Salami, according to the police summary, "started stabbing the victim ... taking two or three swipes at him with the knife".
Police said Mr Al-Salami then proceeded to stab and slash Dr Wong to the face, chest, hands, forearms, torso, stomach and legs about 25 to 30 times.
Three people tried to drag Dr Wong away, but Mr Al-Salami allegedly threatened them with a knife before stabbing Dr Wong in the neck when the neurosurgeon was not moving.
Dr Wong was eventually taken away for life-saving surgery and Mr Al-Salami arrested.
Over the next 10 hours, Dr Wong lost his entire supply of blood (between five and six litres were replaced with transfusions) as his colleagues worked hard to save his life.
Dr Wong has since regained full movement in his arms and hands, allowing him to return to work.
