MONTEGO BAY, St James — The police are now exploring how best to support Cornwall Regional Hospital (CRH) in ensuring that a man, whose relatives and friends intimidated hospital staff into releasing him from the medical facility so that he could seek the services of an obeah practitioner, will return to get medical care.

“We are looking at the situation to see what next the police can do to intervene in the man’s condition because the medical team are of the view that he has a medical condition and not a spiritual condition, as we call Obeah,” assistant commissioner of police for Area One Clifford Chambers said in a video released to the media on Tuesday.

A boisterous group of the man’s friends and family converged on the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit Tuesday morning demanding that the Mahfoota, St James, resident be released from hospital.

“He was restrained, based on his behaviour, by the medical team and was being treated. However, his relatives might have been of the view that the issue that he was suffering from was not medical but was spiritual and proceeded to release the restraint and became boisterous with the medical team, indicating that they want him to be released from the hospital,” said Chambers.

“As a result of that, the medical team, I was advised, decided to release the patient into the custody of his mother and have his mother sign a release form and thereafter they left with him,” Chambers added.

Hospital staff became rattled during the exchange with the patient’s friends and relatives and called in the police from a post located on the hospital compound.

It is not uncommon for medical staff in sections of the country to work in challenging and dangerous situations and when news initially broke the situation appeared to be the latest such incident.

However Chambers stressed that, contrary to reports in sections of the media, there was no confrontation between the police and armed individuals, or between the police and the man’s relatives. He also rejected reports that the man who was seeking medical care was a ‘don’.

“The gentleman is a former taxi operator and from all indications was never a part of any gang and has never been involved in any confrontation with the police,” said Chambers.

Health and Wellness Minster Dr Christopher Tufton also felt compelled to comment on the issue in Parliament.

“It involved no guns; it involved a group of family members, friends, who were wanting a patient discharged and they were boisterous, they were loud. But there were no guns drawn or threats of gunfire exchange, as is being reported in sections of the media,” he said.

Though no weapons were involved, the incident was enough to traumatise some hospital employees who received counselling after the exchange. Some called in sick later in the day but there was minimal impact at the facility as administrators put contingency plans in place.

The hospital’s chaplain will continue counselling sessions on Wednesday and administrators have indicated that they will work closely with the police to ensure the facility remains secure.