Bed shortage prompts 'discharge' drive

Mater Dei Hospital continues to suffer from a bed shortage problem, according to a consultant, and no new patients could be admitted last Monday because of the problem.

Anthony Zammit, who is also a Labour MP, said: "On March 31, in the afternoon, all consultants at Mater Dei Hospital were requested to perform an urgent ward round to discharge as many in-patients as possible."

Dr Zammit, a senior lecturer in surgery who operated on Labour leader Alfred Sant last December, said the problem had fortunately coincided with spring and a quiet public holiday.

"But what would have happened had there been a major disaster? Is there a contingency plan to cover such an eventuality? Surely, enough of those patients being referred or referring themselves to hospital on this quiet afternoon were not doing so out of sheer pleasure," he said.

These were sick people, he said, who had every right to go to Mater Dei, as much as the in-patients had a right to occupy the beds if their consultants deemed this was required.

"None of the consultants leaves their patients at the hospital longer than required," he added.

"Hopefully, John Dalli (Social Policy Minister) will not be finding a 'financial' solution to try and keep away people from Mater Dei," he said.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Dalli said he was working hard to find a solution to the bed shortage.

"I started four weeks ago and I cannot immediately solve problems that have been festering for years. I'm analysing the situation and learning the facts to find a solution," he insisted.

When it was pointed out that in-patients were being discharged last Monday because the hospital had reached maximum capacity, Mr Dalli said consultants would not be so irresponsible to discharge patients who still required hospitalisation.

When he recently visited the hospital shortly after assuming the new political portfolio, Mr Dalli had said that expanding community care service would help address the shortage of beds, and the Government was "assiduously working" on this concept.

He had said the Government was not looking at temporary, stopgap solutions - the answer lay in providing more and better treatment and care within the community to alleviate the pressure on the hospital.