The Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ) yesterday condemned last Saturday's attack on a nurse at the Bustamante Hospital for Children and said the incident was simply an escalation of the tension being experienced at some hospitals, which are under pressure due to the abolition of user fees for children.

"We unequivocally condemn these incidents. We offer our sympathies to the nurse who was assaulted and to all other health workers who have baeen victims of violence from persons seeking health care," MAJ president Dr Rosemarie Wright-Pascoe said in a release.

"The MAJ notes that these events have been taking place since the recent abolishment of user fees for children under age 18. It appears that this latter event has resulted in a rush on the accident and emergency departments of secondary care institutions, such as the Bustamante Hospital for Children and Cornwall Regional Hospital," the MAJ president said.

According to Dr Wright-Pascoe, there has been an alarming increase in the daily attendance rate at the accident and emergency department at the Bustamante Hospital. The attendance, she said, has jumped from over 100 children to more than 350.

"This has resulted in cramped and overcrowded facilities, and prolonged waiting time for as much as 12 to 24 hours in some instances," she stated. "Verbal abuse has been heaped on the heads of the hard-working health staff and accusations of favouritism have been made where ill patients have been attended to before less ill persons. Patient care delivery has been compromised and the staff has become demoralised."

At the same time, Dr Wright-Pascoe said that while some measures have been put in place to address the increase in accident and emergency visits, this is still not adequate.

The issue of nurses being abused at the Bustamante Hospital came to fore last Saturday when the nurses, including Edith Allwood-Anderson, president of the Nurses Association of Jamaica, protested over what they said was continued physical and verbal abuse from parents. The most recent incident occurred last Saturday when a nurse was hit in the face with a chair by a parent after an argument over the breastfeeding of a child on a nebuliser.

The nurses also called for a review of the security measures at the hospital.

Yesterday, Dr Wright-Pascoe said the MAJ had voiced its concern to the health ministry last November about the increased attendance and suggested some solutions.

"These include extending the opening hours of primary care clinics and improving the availability of drugs, supplies and laboratory facilities at these clinics," she said. "We take this opportunity to caution the Ministry of Health that the problems being experienced now will be greater once universal unrestricted health care access is extended to all adults in April 2008."

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