Between 50 and 80 patients are being kept in hospital every day because their relatives are not accepting them back, Health Minister Joseph Cassar said during question time in Parliament this evening.

He said the problem of hospital overcrowding and patients waiting for beds was among the most pressing and complex problems being faced at Mater Dei Hospital.

This was a problem related to the service being provided at health centres and general practitioners, Dr Cassar said. But another aspect of the problem was how every day there were between 50 and 80 patients at Mater Dei who would have been discharged by the consultants but who were not accepted at home by their families.

The hospital's policy was to respect the dignity of the patients and such people were not sent home when they were not accepted, Dr Cassar said.

Prof Anthony Zammit (PL) asked whether there was dignity when patients were kept in corridors without privacy even for their basic needs, when dying patients were placed near other patients, or when patients suffering fevers were placed in the same room as other suffering infection.

Dr Cassar replied that that was not patient dignity.