No changes to the top management of Mount Carmel Hospital were envisaged, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said yesterday.
He admitted he was “saddened” by “speculation” in the media on the appointment of a Labour general election candidate as chief executive officer.
Newspaper reports said that lawyer Clifton Grima, the former Msida mayor, was earmarked for the post of CEO at the psychiatric hospital, replacing Dolores Cauchi, the founder of mental health NGO Richmond Foundation.
Questioned by journalists over the matter during a visit to the hospital by Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna, Dr Farrugia said that Dr Grima had not received any remuneration for his services.
“There’s a lot of speculation and I’m sorry to see that everyone is focused on these negative things. We are working on a three-year work programme to implement the Mental Health Act and, instead, we have this ping-pong in the media,” he said.
There is a substantial amount of debt, so we are looking at how we can cut costs
Earlier, he told Mgr Scicluna that the authorities had conducted a “census” on Mount Carmel Hospital to see how many of the 400 beds were occupied by people who no longer required care given at a psychiatric hospital.
Without going into specifics, Dr Farrugia said the Government was working on a plan to offer services in the community with a view of integrating people requiring mental health services back into society.
He said some patients were elderly people who needed to be seen by a doctor or a heart specialist and not a psychiatrist but still remained at the hospital because they once required its specialist services.
Dr Farrugia also said the Health Ministry was seeking to tap into EU funds to build a new psychiatric hospital in the vicinity of the main state hospital, Mater Dei.
“We are looking at mental health in a holistic manner. Our primary focus is providing services in the community,” he said, as he touched upon the financial situation of Mount Carmel, which was “not at all rosy”.
“There is a substantial amount of debt, so we are looking at how we can cut costs. One of the ways to achieve cost savings is by providing care in the community where our multidisciplinary team can work with the family to provide such services. This is the way forward,” he said.
Mgr Scicluna said the Church ought to prepare its priests for working in the community with such vulnerable people, adding that the Church must contribute for the country to have a healthy social environment.