(Adds Gozo Ministry's reply)

Sterilisation equipment at Gozo General Hospital is out of order due to a lack of maintenance in the past two years, PL health spokeswoman Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said.

She said in a statement this morning that the equipment was bought in 1999.

Notary Coleiro Preca said that the tools used in operations in Gozo were being sent to Malta to be sterilised and, as a result, there were not enough instruments for acute and emergency operations in Gozo.

This shortcoming showed that the government lacked priorities, finding money for secondary issues but not for issues that were crucial and important for the people’s health.

Gozo Ministry's reply

In a reply, the Gozo Ministry deplored the propagandistic attitude of the PL spokeswoman’s statement, which, it said, was solely aimed at the acquisition of political gain to the detriment of Gozitan patients.

It said that although it was true that the sterilisation equipment was out of order, this was not because the necessary maintenance had not been carried out. The equipment was given regular maintenance.

The recent damage was normal and until the spare parts, which had already been ordered, arrived, all necessary measures were being taken for the service to continue being given in a normal way. That was why the operation tools were being sent to Malta for sterilisation.

All this was being done in the interest of patients and it was not true that there could be a case where there were not enough instruments for treatments or operations.

This was because of a close collaboration between the Gozo Hospital and Mater Dei, through which priority was being given to the instruments of the Gozo Hospital, which were being returned to Gozo on the same day of their arrival in Malta.

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