crisis at the hospital emergency room.

The crush is so bad that the doctor in charge has asked patients with minor problems to think twice before showing up.

Otherwise, treatment for seriously ill patients could be affected, said Dr. Ed Schultz, director of emergency services at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

His appeal came after a record number of emergency visits. Almost 100 people a day have been treated by the department in the last year.

Cases handled by the emergency room are up 10 percent, due to increases in minor cases and real emergencies.

"The continuing appearance of a large number of non-emergency cases in the evenings and weekends has created something of a crisis,'' said Dr. Schultz.

"We have increased our staff by two physicians in order to handle the flow of patients.

"People with colds, sore throats, minor long-standing illnesses and other conditions which could be handled by their own doctor are coming to us when we are already having to look after a steady stream of true emergencies.'' People with non-emergency problems sometimes arrived because they could not get to see their own doctors or were uncertain about their condition, Dr.

Schultz said.

Because of the recession, people had been laid off and lost their insurance.

They had no choice but to come to the emergency room.

The last winter had produced many lung complaints. And Bermuda -- like other places -- had an ageing population.

There had also been an "increase in violence in the community'', Dr. Schultz said. Road crash deaths, serious injuries and cardiac cases were also up.

And if the tourism season was a bumper one, that would add to pressure on emergency physicians and nurses, he said.

"Over recent weekends ... we have had to deal with massive numbers of very seriously ill patients, and minor cases have had these very long waits of up to six hours, because we don't have the staff or the places to put them,'' he said.

"We're happy to treat everyone -- that's what we do for a living. But our main concern is that we have so many minor complaints coming in that eventually it will compromise care of patients who require very urgent care.'' The appeal to the community was a bid to avoid that situation.

"If we all helped out a little bit, by not utilising the emergency room for non-emergency cases, everyone's care level would be improved.''