In a press conference held yesterday outside the law courts, Dr Jason Azzopardi and Dr Kris Busietta said that during the press conference MAM held the day after the incident, the association made comments that intimated the security guards and officers were not doing their job that night.

Saviour Agius, Anthony Caruana and Joseph Gauci were all stationed at the St Luke’s casualty department on 8 July, when the incident took place. Between them they covered all three entrances to the department, the protest filed yesterday said.

At around 1am, Mr Gauci heard some commotion inside the department and he, together with Mr Agius and Mr Caruana, ran inside and found a man and a woman shouting and yelling on their way out of the hospital.

The judicial protest said the woman tried to run back in but Mr Caruana stopped her.

The guard said that if he had not stopped this woman, the doctor would have been beaten badly. “It is not usually my place to stop a woman, but had I not stopped her she would have run back in to where the doctors were,” he said.

Dr Azzopardi noted that the security guards are not allowed into the treatment cubicles and can only enter if called on the PA system.

“That day, no one called security, but they intervened all the same,” he said.

After they stopped the two persons from going back inside, Mr Agius contacted his supervisor, John Spiteri, who in turn tried to page the police officer on duty at the hospital that day.

The protest said the police

officer’s pager was turned off so Mr Spiteri phoned the police headquarters instead.

The press conference MAM held the day after the incident suggested the security guards were of no help to the doctors who were attacked.

The report gave the impression that the security officers were not doing their jobs at the time of the incident. Dr Azzopardi said MAM should have acted within ethical reason and gathered the facts before making allegations that could jeopardise people’s jobs.

The comments made by the association could lead to disciplinary action being taken against the 15 security officers, which may eventually lead to their dismissal.

The men are therefore holding MAM responsible for any

damage they may have, or will suffer, due to the association’s

comments.

The protest was filed by Dr Azzopardi and Dr Busietta on behalf of Grezzju Abela, Saviour Agius, Godwin Attard, Carmelo Attard, Robert Attard, Anthony Caruana, Emmanuel Cuschieri, Jesmond Farrugia, Joseph Gauci, Joseph Mangion, Mannes Pace, Doris Schembri, Joseph Spiteri, John Spiteri and Francis Vassallo.

In a statement issued yesterday the General Workers’ Union (GWU) supported what was said in the judicial protest.

The union said hospital authorities and Dr Stephen Muscat, one of the doctors who was attacked, confirmed that the security officers intervened before they were even called.

The GWU said hospital superintendent Frank Bartolo also put the hospital security in bad light when, in a newspaper article, he said the security officers are never to be found.

Dr Bartolo often treats staff members aggressively and has a habit of shouting without first verifying the facts, the union said.

The security officers and guards were praised by the people who were present at the casualty department the day of the attack and they confirmed the security guards collaborated fully with the police squad that eventually came on site