Saint James ready to offer beds but not in talks so far

Saint James Hospital has not been approached by the health authorities to farm out its resources to tackle Mater Dei Hospital’s acute bed shortage despite similar talks with rival St Philip’s hospital.

“There have been absolutely no discussions,” Saint James Hospital head Josie Muscat told The Times yesterday. His hospital is the only other big private hospital in Malta.

Yesterday, The Sunday Times revealed that the government was considering using St Philip’s four operating theatres and 110 beds to solve the bed shortage at Mater Dei in what is being seen by some professionals as an admission that Malta’s only acute hospital is not big enough.

Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses president Paul Pace has long been maintaining that Mater Dei is not big enough for the needs of the population and needs to be extended in the near future.

Mr Pace maintains the hospital is not meeting patients’ needs especially since it has fewer beds than St Luke’s Hospital had.

“It is easy to blame the bed shortage on social cases but they should have been taken into account when designing the hospital,” he said yesterday, adding that extra beds were sorely needed.

The union would not oppose using St Philip’s Hospital’s resources, although discussions were needed about the working conditions of staff. Similarly, Medical Association of Malta president Martin Balzan said that while the MAM would not oppose the farming out of certain interventions, it too wanted to know the implications for doctors.

Dr Balzan added that the authorities had to tread carefully not to create problems within the private sector by subsidising the private market.

In fact, St James’ head pointed out that if the government was considering using the facilities at St Philip’s, it was only fair that it also made use of St James. “Nobody is as well equipped as us,” Dr Muscat said.

He yesterday admitted that the hospital was struggling to cope with “sky-high” costs. “If the government wants to buy the hospital, I would sell it tonight,” Dr Muscat said. However, when pressed, he denied he might be looking for a buyer.

When contacted yesterday Health Parliamentary Secretary Joe Cassar said he himself had never been involved in discussions with either St Philip’s or St James Hospital. Questions sent last week to the Social Policy Ministry, which is in charge of healthcare, remained unanswered.