The closure of the Maltese-owned Saint James Hospital in Tripoli was the result of a sudden security threat against its staff, Group chairman Josie Muscat revealed yesterday.

News that the hospital in the Libyan capital had been closed and its entire staff evacuated was broken on Saturday night, following the escalation of violence which had seen Islamic State (known as IS) make inroads into the Eastern coastal city of Derna as well as Sirte.

Though no confirmed reports have been received of the presence of extremist groups in the Libyan capital, the Maltese government urged the Saint James Hospital Group to close its operations in Tripoli due to the deteriorating situation.

“The advice received from Malta as well as the intelligence we got from the ground in Tripoli was to evacuate immediately,” Dr Muscat said.

Established in 2006 on a small scale in the Ben Ashour area, what was once a clinic gradually expanded its services to become a hospital and at its peak employed about 100 people. Though the 2011 civil war was a major setback, its doors remained open throughout the conflict and even during the turbulent period which followed.

Saturday’s decision to pull out of Libya, therefore, came as a surprise, especially since the day before the hospital had issued a call for nurses on its Facebook page. “We had no other option but to close down the hospital which was being manned by a staff of about 20 people,” Dr Muscat said.

He recounted that until last month, when he last visited Tripoli, life in this part of the capital was “normal” and the hospital staff felt “very safe”.

The advice we got was to evacuate immediately

However he expressed concern that prospects of an improvement in the foreseeable future seemed rather meagre.

As for the financial repercussions of the closure, he appealed to the government to step in and give companies such as his some “breathing space”, because they would still be expected to honour their commitments with banks on time.

Meanwhile, the Maltese-owned Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli is still closed following last month’s terror attack in which at least 10 people were killed.

The plan is to re-open the hotel but it is not known when.

A source told Times of Malta that structural repair works were being carried out in those areas damaged by the bombing.

“Though the security situation is of major concern, leaving such an important asset abandoned would only make the situation worse and would have major repercussions on the entire Corinthia group,” the source said.

The hotel is being guarded day and night and a number of Maltese nationals are still on site, in spite of repeated warnings by the Maltese government to evacuate immediately.

However, a Maltese businessman told this newspaper on condition of anonymity that the situation was not as bad as that being depicted in the media.

“We still have a couple of employees in Tripoli as life there is relatively normal,” he said.

“One has to accept that this is a hostile environment and so has to exercise extreme caution,” he added. However he acknowledged that if the recent escalation of violence was to move from Sirte to Tripoli, it would be a different story.

“In that case we would have no other option but to pull out.”