It was not the first time that the maternity hospital in Granada had suffered a scuffle with belligerent relatives of a patient. Wednesday the 10th of April was just another such incident.

The A&E Department of the hospital was completely blocked by an angry crowd of around 50 people between midnight and two in the morning. Both the Policía Nacional and Policía Local were needed to disperse the mob.

Five medical staff and the head doctor on duty on that night made statements at the police station the next day, complaining of verbal aggression and death threats.

The whole scuffle evolved around the health of an 8-month-old baby, whose family had brought him in around 17.30h with a fever. The child was attended and sent home. However, the fever had worsened, accompanied by fits during the night and the family returned to complain.

The doctors immediately attended to the child but the family were very aggressive and had phoned relatives, who phoned friends and before you knew it, over 50 people had gathered at the entrance, hammering on the main doors. The hospital security staff were unable to deal with the situation and called on the police to help.

But it was not only the medical staff that were suffering because the parents who had brought their own children in to be attended had to be evacuated and transferred to the A&E Department at the new PTS hospital.

In the meantime the child with the fever was kept under observation until 08.00h in the morning and was discharged.

Although the police did not arrest anybody that night, they did take the names of the most violent members of the mob.

As for the Medical Workers Union, it has demanded permanent security staff, pointing out that the Public Health Offices have permanent security staff, even though they have never had a problem, yet the A&E Department, where they regularly do, have only partial security coverage.

Finally, just after Easter, the Policía Nacional charged three individuals with having caused the disturbance and been behind the acts of verbal aggression; two men and a woman, two of whom have criminal records.

(News: Metropolitan Area, Granada, Andalucia)