Stopgap measures to ease hospital overcrowding

Health Minister Louis Deguara said yesterday that new wards were being set up at St Vincent de Paul and Mount Carmel Hospitals to take social cases and ease the load from St Luke's Hospital.

The minister said in reply to a parliamentary question by Mario Galea (PN) that these were stopgap measures which were being taken until a new rehabilitation facility for 280 patients was built at St Vincent de Paul Residence. The new facility, although within the residence's grounds, would have its own entrance.

He said that 28 social cases had already been moved from St Luke's to a specially adapted ward at St Vincent de Paul.

A disused ward at Mount Carmel Hospital was also being extensively refurbished, at a cost of Lm80,000, to take patients undergoing rehabilitation from St Luke's. The new ward, which would be inaugurated in two weeks' time, was being prepared to high standards, including new tiling and bathrooms and air conditioning. Recurrent costs would be almost Lm250,000 per year.

The minister explained that these stopgap measures were made necessary because of a sharp rise in the number of social cases occupying beds at St Luke's. These patients were taking up valuable beds, causing overcrowding in the medicine wards which then spilled over to the surgical wards. As a result operations had to be postponed and waiting lists grew longer.

The minister also explained that oncology services will have to be transferred from Boffa Hospital to Zammit Clapp because of lack of space in the former. He said the number of cancer patients was increasing and more beds and equipment were needed, but space was not available for them at Boffa.

At the same time, Zammit Clapp was lacking space for rehabilitation services, and such services would therefore eventually be transferred to the purposely built facility at St Vincent de Paul.