Three men brawl at Accident & Emergency over weekend
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Following a brawl involving three men at Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) over the weekend, Bahamas Nurses Union (BNU) President Amancha Williams is calling on the government to beef up security across healthcare services.
In an interview with Eyewitness News, Williams said the BNU had met with the Ministry of National Security prior to the most recent incident occurring.
She pointed to another incident, involving a gunshot victim, that took place nearly two months ago at the Elizabeth Estates clinic and that also put nurses at risk.
“We have a lot of persons at the clinic that are retiring — they can’t handle the young people,” Williams said.
“We need security not just to the clinics, not just to the hospital, but we need security in the Family Islands with nurses going out at 2am in the morning.”
The Public Hospitals Authority (PHA) confirmed in a statement yesterday that officers of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) and security officers had to respond to an incident at the Accident & Emergency Department around 1am on Saturday.
According to reports, a man who was brought into the trauma area of A&E for medical attention was attacked by two men — one who was another patient and another who accompanied him.
The PHA advised that the attacker was restrained by Emergency Department staff, RBDF officers deployed to the Emergency Department and hospital security officers responded, and two knives were confiscated.
Abusive or violent behavior will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.
– Public Hospitals Authority
The attacker was then arrested by police.
“Persons seeking care, services or visiting public hospital institutions are reminded that weapons are not permitted on hospital grounds and abusive or violent behavior will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement read.
While the PHA said no other patients or hospital staff were physically injured, Williams indicated that one nurse was in fact injured, though the nature of her injuries is unknown.
In 2001, Nurse Joan Lunn, 65, was killed when two gunmen burst into a surgical ward at PMH and fired several shots — one bullet hitting Lunn in the heart, killing her instantly.
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