Old medical records torched by vandals

The Friends of the National Archives have expressed relief that the authorities have promised to try and rescue what remains of thousands of hospital documents torched during a recent act of vandalism on a building in Mtarfa.

The shabby and dilapidated building, once forming part of the former Mtarfa Hospital, was set on fire and most of its contents - hospital records from the 1970s - reduced to ashes.

FNA officials visited the place last week following reports by neighbours that they had seen individuals entering the building on several occasions.

Three rooms containing thousands of hospital documents, some of which were confidential, and another room containing X-rays were set on fire and most completely destroyed.

The building, constructed in 1924, was once used by the Health Department to store thousands of files and documents, furniture and linen, among others. Most of the items had been transferred from St Luke's Hospital in the mid-1970s.

Although most of the documents were partially burnt, many are still legible. Among the documents, one could find the medical history of various individuals who were hospitalised at St Luke's Hospital, FNA chairman Max Farrugia said when contacted.

Mr Farrugia explained that these documents were never referred to the National Archives and were still under the responsibility of the Health Ministry. He said that he personally drew the attention of the management of St Luke's Hospital about the Mtarfa issue during a radio programme.

The hospital's communications officer contacted FNA to learn where the building was located and the Friends were later informed that immediate action would be taken to remedy the situation.

Since it is impossible to save most of the documents it was suggested that, at least, a record would be kept of the documents destroyed, a detailed report of which will be passed on to the FNA.

According to 1990 legislation, no government documents may be destroyed and they have to be preserved for archival purposes. Mr Farrugia said that the Archives Act made it clear that after a certain number of years such documents were to be made public for use by students and researchers. He said that were it not for this law, thousands of other documents would have been destroyed under the pretext of lack of space.

He said that over the last two years, the Friends of the National Archives worked hand in hand with the Education Ministry to draft updated legislation. The draft was finalised some months ago and is expected to become law in the coming months.

Mr Farrugia urged anybody who witnesses the destruction of archival material to report the case to the Friends of the National Archives so that action could be taken immediately.

"Sadly, there are several other rooms scattered over the island housing tens of thousands of documents; the problem is the authorities seem to have no idea where they're located!"