The nurses’ union this morning denied that Gozo General Hospital was prepared for the Ebola virus and said that not only were hoods and the blowers non-existent but a mock exercise on how to transfer an Ebola patient to Mater Dei Hospital had never taken place.

It was referring to a statement issued by the government claiming that Gozo was prepared for the virus.

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses said that training at Gozo General Hospital was done using the available gowns and not the proper equipment required to nurse Ebola patients with fully hooded suites and blowers incorporated in the suites

Such hooded covered gowns, which were not even available at the Infectious Disease Unit in Mater Dei Hospital, were also not available in Gozo.

Neither nurses in Malta, nor those in Gozo had ever made use of such personal protective equipment, MUMN said.

The union said that although there was, on paper, a contingency plan for the transport of patients between Gozo and Mater Dei, no mock exercises as to identify the weakness and the flaws of such a plan were ever organised.

The government said in a statement that the health authorities have been proactive with preparation plans for the current Ebola virus disease outbreak, including the Gozo hospita.

It issued the statement after an online news report yesterday claimed there was a suspected case of Ebola in Gozo, and that Gozo’s hospital was ill-prepared for such an outbreak.

The government categorically denied the Gozo Ebola claim and added that healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses both in Malta and Gozo, have been trained on the proper use of personal protective equipment.

The hospital has the protective equipment required to deal with any cases of suspected Ebola

“The plans included both Mater Dei Hospital as well as Gozo General Hospital which are both ready to deal with potential cases of Ebola as directed by international evidence based guidelines from ECDC and WHO,” a government statement said.

“Training is on an ongoing basis. Doctors have been advised that if they encounter a suspected case they are to communicate with public health authorities for an initial assessment of the patient. The Gozo General Hospital has at its disposal the personal protective equipment required to deal with any cases of suspected Ebola,” the government said.

It said if there was a suspected case of the disease at Gozo General Hospital the patient would be directed to the identified area for isolation until further assessment is carried out.

“If the risk assessment outcome indicates that this could be a suspected case, then the patient is transferred under strict infection control procedures to Malta by ambulance, with the use of stretcher isolator if needed, for admission to the highly infectious disease unit for further investigations,” it added.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.