Zammit Clapp to reopen as nursing home early next year
200 residents are never visited at St Vincent de Paule
Zammit Clapp Hospital will start a new lease of life as a nursing home for the elderly early next year. It will accommodate 112 residents.
The former Blue Sisters' Hospital served as a geriatric care hospital before being closed down shortly after Mater Dei opened. The government had originally planned to convert it into an oncology hospital - taking over from Boffa Hospital - before opting for a purpose-built facility adjoining Mater Dei.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly Mario Galea, speaking in parliament, confirmed that Zammit Clapp will reopen early next year.
In an address during the Budget debate, he said that projections showed that there will be 151,000 elderly people in Malta by the year 2050.
He said the stock of beds for the elderly in government, church and private homes had increased to 3,722.
Karin Grech Hospital, which is taking 'social cases' from Mater Dei, has seen its bed stock raised to 211 and refurbishment works are being carried out to raise that number to 271.
When he spoke on St Vincent de Paule Home, which has been extensively modernised and extended, Mr Galea expressed his regret that some 200 residents there are never visited by their relatives.