A surge in viral infections, the cause of hospital overcrowding, has hit earlier than usual, leading doctors to fear the worst is still to come.
Doctors’ union general secretary, Martin Balzan, said the surge in medical cases at Mater Dei Hospital was growing from year to year because of an increasing elderly population that was more vulnerable.
“Infections at this time of the year are exacerbated by cold weather but the surge normally hits around January, which is why I believe we haven’t seen the worst yet,” Dr Balzan said when contacted yesterday.
The increased number of patients at Mater Dei prompted hospital management to cancel non-urgent elective surgeries this week as the bed crisis kicked in.
Dr Balzan, general secretary of the Medical Association of Malta, insisted this was a management matter and the doctors’ union would not issue any directives. He said patient safety was paramount even if operations had to be cancelled.
We added bed space but this was still not enough and solutions now have to be found outside Mater Dei Hospital, which is a ministerial matter
Mater Dei Hospital CEO Joe Caruana yesterday deflected criticism over his decision to go abroad as the hospital faced a growing problem. He went abroad on a private visit on Thursday and is expected back tomorrow.
He said a decision to postpone elective surgeries because of bed shortages was taken when he was still here and the situation would be reviewed on Monday. He explained that hospital management followed an established “escalation plan” but the additional beds put in at Mater Dei were still not enough to cope with the influx of patients.
“We added bed space but this was still not enough and solutions now have to be found outside Mater Dei, which is a ministerial matter,” Mr Caruana said.
Buying beds at private hospitals was an option but something the Health Ministry had to decide on, he added. Attempts to contact Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia yesterday proved futile.
There were 47 operations on Wednesday and Thursday that were postponed and the number was expected to increase albeit at a slower rate because very few surgeries were held yesterday, a public holiday, and over the weekend.
Emergency surgery and other urgent operations were still carried out.