Imaging equipment at Mater Dei starts being used

New imaging equipment at Mater Dei Hospital was used on patients over the past week as managerial staff starts moving to the new hospital from today.

A spokesman for the hospital said eight patients were sent to the new hospital at Tal-Qroqq for spinal, skull, chest and abdominal images. This was done to train staff at the Medical Imaging Department on the clinical use of the equipment. The equipment had been tested and certified for clinical use and staff had already received technical training.

The spokesman said the images produced were technically correct, of a very high quality and superior in digital format.

"We have been very eager to use the new state-of-the-art equipment at Mater Dei. Our confidence levels are continuously increasing. We are now able to produce more in-depth imaging of different medical conditions prevailing in patients in a shorter timeframe," radiography services manager Joe Cassar said.

As more patients are tested at the department for staff training purposes, the managerial department starts moving into the new hospital today as the first phase of migration kicks off. The process is expected to last for a few days and the department should be fully functional by next week.

The hospital management yesterday took over a whole block consisting of the management offices from the Foundation for Medical Services.

A number of other parts of the hospital are expected to be handed over to the hospital management this month.

The next phase of the migration will be the Outpatients Department, followed by inpatient services. The hospital is expected to be fully functional by the end of the year.

Since its inauguration on June 29, the hospital has gone through a thorough process of checking and ensuring that each and every room taken over by the Mater Dei management is certified as safe both for the patient and for staff. This process will take place for every area taken over by the Mater Dei management.