A nationwide blackout in the early hours of Friday has rekindled controversy over the lack of generators at Mount Carmel Hospital.

Paul Pace, president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, in an open letter to Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia, vented his members’ anger at the situation.

“Mount Carmel Hospital must be the only acute hospital in Europe that does not have an electricity backup generator,” Mr Pace said, adding nothing had changed from previous years when the union had also complained about the state of affairs.

Mr Pace said 11 wards had no backup supply and nurses had to make use of candles and gas lamps to be able to see. He said two patients in a female ward hurt themselves when they fell in the darkness.

“Doctors had to do a clinical examination of their injuries under candlelight,” he said.

The nurses’ chief then asked the minister whether he was aware that patients were screaming in panic when they found themselves in pitch darkness. He said nurses risked being set on fire by panicked patients when such situations arose.

Mr Pace also questioned the minister’s priorities with reference to a recent statement that he wanted to build a 100-bed mental health hospital opposite Mater Dei.

“It is worrying that your main priority is building a new mental hospital when in your press conference there was no indication of the pressing needs of Mount Carmel Hospital,” Mr Pace said, adding a 100-bed hospital was not even enough to satisfy existing demand.

He insisted that any primary care service will never replace the services provided at Mount Carmel and noted the ever increasing number of drug addicts who were making use of hospital facilities.

Mr Pace said nurses were angered by Dr Farrugia’s comment that only 101 patients at Mount Carmel needed psychiatric help. All 440 patients are suffering from mental disorders, Mr Pace insisted.

The union called for an urgent meeting with the minister to clarify matters and Mr Pace threatened industrial action depending on the feedback received.