A 25-year-old drug user was arrested after allegedly assaulting a doctor at Sedqa’s Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Pietà yesterday.

The man, from Pembroke, first got into a heated argument with Sedqa employees after they told him he could not see the doctor without an appointment.

He grabbed the doctor by the neck and dropped him to the ground, slightly injuring the 41-year-old medic from Attard.

A policeman on duty intervened and escorted the man out of the building, which was previously known as the Detox Centre. He is expected to be charged in court soon, the police said.

When contacted, the general secretary of the Medical Association of Malta, Martin Balzan, condemned the incident and expressed the association’s solidarity with the doctor.

He said Sedqa, the government alcohol and drug abuse agency, should review its security arrangements at the centre, where drug users get their dose of methadone, a replacement for opiates such as heroin.

A Sedqa spokesman said the agency always gave staff safety “utmost priority”. Reacting to Dr Balzan’s comment on reviewing its security procedures at the centre, the spokesman said they were reviewed on an ongoing basis.

“Security systems and procedures will continue to be reviewed by the agency and the necessary action taken to continue to ensure staff and clients’ safety,” the spokesman said.

St Luke’s Square, where the centre is situated, is a notorious trouble spot in Pietà and there are plans to guard it by having a new police station next door to the centre.

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