By Laura Chung
A 29-year-old woman has been arrested after allegedly stabbing a 45-year-old man in the back at a hospital in Sydney's inner west on Tuesday night.
Police said the pair were in the triage area of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Missenden Road in Camperdown about 10.30pm when the woman allegedly stabbed the man. The man and woman did not know each other, police said.
A woman has been arrested after allegedly stabbing a man in the back. Credit: Quentin Jones
NSW Police allege the woman had the knife in her possession when she was brought in by ambulance from a home in Concord.
The man, who had been transferred to RPA from a hospital in Wagga Wagga, underwent surgery for his stab wound. He was in a stable condition in hospital on Wednesday morning, police said.
The woman was not injured and remains under police guard in hospital, where she will undergo a mental health assessment.
Inquiries into the incident are continuing, but police said it was not being treated as a targeted or provoked attack.
Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes said the incident highlighted the need for a greater "commitment to health security."
As a "starting point", HSU is calling for more than 250 security officers in metro NSW.
"Unfortunately what occurred last night is no surprise, it is very routine which is disturbing," Mr Hayes said.
In a separate incident, police are appealing for information after a woman was stabbed in Sydney's west on Wednesday morning.
Police said a 19-year-old woman was walking along Cornelia Road in Toongabbie just after midnight when a female, believed to be aged in her teens, approached her and asked for her belongings.
The 19-year-old refused and was stabbed multiple times in her stomach, back and arms.
Police said the woman's attacker fled the scene on foot.
The injured woman was taken to Westmead Hospital where she remains in a serious but stable condition.
Police are appealing for information to locate the female offender, who they described as being of Pacific Islander/Maori or Asian appearance, aged in her mid-teens, with black hair parted down the middle, last seen wearing dark clothing.