A Melbourne neurosurgeon who nearly died in a frenzied stabbing is happy his attacker will get the help he desperately needs.
Kareem Al-Salami, 49, has been sentenced to a nominal term of 25 years of supervised treatment at a secure forensic mental health hospital.
Al-Salami attacked Michael Wong when the neurosurgeon arrived for work at Melbourne's Western General Hospital in February 2014, but was found not guilty of attempted murder by reason of mental impairment.
Al-Salami has been held in prison because there was no bed available in a secure psychiatric facility.
Victorian Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth on Wednesday said a place was now available at the Thomas Embling Hospital.
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Dr Wong was pleased the case was finally over and that Al-Salami would finally get the help he needs.
"He's been kept in prison or a remand centre all this time, which is not really capable of caring for a psychiatric patient," Dr Wong told reporters outside court.
"Finally he is able to be in the right place to get some treatment and also the duration or length of the sentence hopefully will allow him to have the treatment that he desperately needs and also keep the rest of society safe."
Dr Wong nearly died in the attack in the Western General Hospital foyer but has made a full recovery.
The court has previously heard Dr Wong successfully operated on Al-Salami's spine in 2012.
But due to his mental illness the Iranian refugee gradually developed delusional beliefs that the operation had gone wrong.
Al-Salami, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, believed Dr Wong was involved in a conspiracy against him.
The surgeon suffered slash and stab wounds to his face, neck, chest, hands, arms, torso, stomach and legs in the frenzied attack.
He only survived because he was treated quickly.
Dr Wong returned to work two years ago but no longer practises at Western General Hospital and has reduced the time he devotes to the public system.
Dr Wong said security for doctors and nurses needs to be increased.
