Another attack at Las Lagunas health centre

Violence against medical staff continues at the Las Lagunas health centre in Mijas, with a fresh assault recorded less than a fortnight after previous incidents shook the facility.

What happened the night of June 17

A female patient threatened an on-call doctor and physically attacked an orderly during the night shift at the urgent care unit, according to the Malaga Medical Union (SMM). She forced her way into a staff-only rest and work area, an off-limits zone that reportedly lacks both security cameras and a panic alarm button.

Witnesses report that she shouted abuse, hurled insults and made threats and coercive demands against the doctor on duty, resulting a highly tense scene. An orderly and a security guard rushed to intervene, and during the struggle the orderly received several blows to the abdomen. Civil Guard officers were eventually called to bring the situation under control.

Repeated incidents raise huge concern

According to the union, this latest episode is just another part of a troubling pattern rather than an isolated case. Just under a fortnight earlier, on June 6, two separate incidents had already been reported at the same centre in Mijas. A man entered carrying several knives and threatened a nurse with death, while another patient struck a doctor and caused further disturbances in the emergency department.

Chronic understaffing and heavy patient demand have long placed pressure on the centre, the SMM claims, conditions it says contribute directly to recurring confrontations.

Union are demanding change and action

Officials are now calling on regional health authorities to launch an emergency plan tackling attacks on healthcare workers across the Costa del Sol Health District. They also want a unified Andalucian register logging not just physical assaults but verbal abuse, threats and humiliation, plus administrative penalties for offenders.

So far this year, the union has logged close to twenty physical and verbal attacks against doctors across Malaga province’s health centres and hospitals.