A fight between two men that started in Duanvale, Trelawny escalated at the Falmouth Hospital yesterday morning when one of the combatants was attacked inside the Accident and Emergency Department.

The attack, plus the convergence of their families on the hospital compound with pickaxes, disrupted operations.

“From what we gather, there was a mob outside and there were pickaxes on the compound, bottles were thrown in the Accident and Emergency [Department] and one patient was stabbed while undergoing treatment in the Accident and Emergency Department,” Jamaica Medical Doctors Association (JMDA) President Dr Alfred Dawes told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

He said that the medical staff did not feel safe because of the situation outside the hospital, and as a result, decided they would only deal with dire emergencies until the security concerns were addressed.

The Sunday Observer was told that the altercation developed in Duanvale, Trelawny, before culminating at the hospital.

Reports from the police are that two men were involved in a dispute in Duanvale, during which both received injuries. They both reportedly went to the Falmouth Hospital along with their family members.

“From what I am gathering, the patient who got assaulted, he was involved in an altercation, he came into the department, he was being treated, he went back outside, had some secret discussions with some members of the mob and shortly after his return, somebody barged in and proceeded to assault him with a sharp instrument,” Dr Dawes disclosed.

“Apparently bottles were thrown, staff were scrambling for cover, and it was chaos in the department at the time,” Dr Dawes continued.

Superintendent Willifred Campbell, who is in charge of the Trelawny Police Division, was unable to provide details to the Sunday Observer but said that the police were in the Duanvale area.

“We have been maintaining a presence in Duanvale where family members, from both sides, who we get to understand were involved in the melee (are),” said Superintendent Campbell.

He also said one of the injured persons was, up to yesterday, at Cornwall Regional Hospital.

Dr Dawes told the Sunday Observer that issues of security at accident and emergency departments across the island are not new.

“We have had the issue of weapons being brought into emergency departments… We actually drafted a letter recently… to the chairman and to the director of (the) western region, voicing some concern because the doctors were updating us that even licensed firearms were being walked into the accident and emergency department,” said a clearly concerned Dr Dawes. “We had an incident at the Spanish Town Hospital where an unlicensed weapon, we suspect, was pulled on a nurse a few weeks ago. So bottles are the least when you have persons walking into departments with guns and knives and that’s something we are currently addressing.”

The JMDA president said talks have been ongoing with the Ministry of Health to get uniformed officers to cover the accident and emergency departments across the island.

“That is being worked out as we speak, but all of these incidents happening, including what happened in Mandeville, some incidents in the Spanish Town Hospital, which were not being reported, doctors being attacked in hospitals, it’s a widespread problem and we need beefed up security for all the hospitals across the island because the staff are under threat,” he said.

Following the incident at Falmouth Hospital, a meeting was held and the decision was made to have two police officers at the health facility. Dr Dawes also told the Sunday Observer that several other security measures that were suggested and highlighted by the staff at the hospital would be fast-tracked.

“They seem to have attached some importance to this incident and the police are beefing up the presence, and security is being beefed up at the hospital, and the hospital has taken it as a wake-up call to fast-track the security measures that were in the pipeline for sometime now,” Dr Dawes said.

Things are now reportedly back to normal at the Falmouth Hospital as the doctors were advised to call off their action.

Yesterday’s incident came on the heels of the Ministry of Health issuing a press release Friday, with the acting chief medical officer, Dr Marion Bullock Ducasse, saying that Jamaicans should not tolerate any abuse or violent attack on any category of staff, including health workers.

The press release came after a registered nurse assigned to the Accident and Emergency Department of Mandeville Regional Hospital was attacked and bitten by a patient while on duty. The region has also increased security at Mandeville Regional Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Department.