A woman in her early 20s entered the Casualty ward, accompanied by a man, asking to be admitted, claiming to feel very ill – “critical” according to her self diagnosis – sources told The Malta Independent.

The female doctor assessing the patient, found that there was no justification for her admission, to which the patient went into a frenzied rage and dragged the doctor along the department’s corridor by her hair. The man accompanying the patient punched another doctor in the face. The doctor, described as a veteran with some 25 years of experience, was merely trying to calm the situation.

The man apparently stopped at the single punch, however it

took four nurses to restrain the woman.

Sources said that there were no security officers at the site during the assault – despite that two hospital guards are detailed to the department. TMID contacted the hospital’s security chief Lawrence Cutajar asking why there were no security officers. Mr Cutajar declined to give a comment and referred us to the St Luke’s public relations officer, who had already left the office when we tried to contact him.

Mobile Squad police officers rushed to the scene and arrested the two aggressors. The Hamrun police station was also called for help, however there was no response, sources said.

After the attack the doctors and nurses working at the emergency department were considering abandoning the department

after the incident, St Luke’s Superintendent Frank Bartolo told TMID. “I went down to calm the situation which for obvious reasons was very tense,” he said, “after a while the service resumed”.

Dr Bartolo condemned the attacks and said that the administration had already held talks with the Hamrun police station during which it was agreed to have a police officer on fixed point duty at the emergency department. An officer was in fact placed on duty yesterday.

The Medical Association of Malta held a press conference on the matter yesterday at 12.30pm during which service at the accident and emergency department was suspended in a symbolic protest over yesterday’s incident. The association’s general secretary Dr Martin Balzan condemned the attack without reserve, saying it was unacceptable that despite there being a number of security officers assigned to the department, none were on site during the attack.

Speaking to this newspaper, Dr Balzan said that this was the third incident of the sort in three months, adding that if the administration did not do something about it quickly the association will be ready to take the necessary measures. Among the measures considered, MAM is thinking of asking doctors to refrain from seeing patients when they think their life may be in danger. MAM had held meetings three months ago with the recently appointed Mater Dei hospital management, Dr Balzan said, in which the association had proposed a number of measures among which the detailing of a police officer at the emergency department, the installation of closed circuit cameras and the enforcement of restrictions to one accompanying relative per patient – a rule that is often broken given the meagre security at hand. Dr Balzan also complained that a meeting the association had called with the Health Minister had not materialised so far. Meanwhile various bodies have issued statements condemning the attacks, among which the Health Ministry and the Health Department. The department’s statement said that the department always recognised that importance of the safety of those working in the emergency department, adding that it had made arrangements with the police to have an officer on regular duty at the hospital. At the same time, the statement said, provision was made for a substantial deployment of security guards at the emergency department