The wife and son of a 76-year-old man who was taken home in an ambulance wearing just a nappy the day after they took him to hospital, hit out last night at the undignified way he was treated.

Health Minister Joe Cassar strongly condemned such behaviour saying it was unacceptable within the health service under any condition.

He said that a ministerial inquiry is being held.

The minister said that yesterday he asked the hospital CEO for a report, has now been passed on to the inquiry board. The report will not be published so as not to prejudice the results.

“I sent him to hospital covered in a blanket,” said Vincent Zammit’s heartbroken wife Madlene.

“We’ve been married for 53 years and never were apart... But I don’t know how to look after him now”- Wife

“My son took him two sets of pyjamas and extra socks and underwear and they brought him back home wearing just a nappy. Of course you get angry.”

Mrs Zammit, 72, is worried because her husband was sent home but is not eating or drinking.

“We’ve been married for 53 years and have never been apart... but I don’t know how to look after him now,” she said.

Their only son, Jesmond, 48, moved in with them to help but he is not home all the time.

Mrs Zammit and her son ended up in court on Wednesday for resisting police officers who were called in by ambulance paramedics when they loudly objected to the way their relative was treated. They were both given a conditional discharge after pleading guilty.

“The hospital forced us into a situation where we have to just wait for my father to die. He’s not eating. At least if they kept him there they could put him on a drip,” Jesmond Zammit said.

He stressed that this was not a matter of him not wanting his father back home.

“How could I not care for him, he worked for me all his life,”he said.

“I refused to let them do that to him and see him in that state. I wanted him to stay in hospital because he can be cared for there. If he dies at home it would be best for him, but hope is last to die so I want him to have it.”

He explained that his father had a weak heart and problems breathing. On Monday he called the family doctor since his father had not been eating or drinking for several days.

The doctor, who was also contacted by The Times, recommended that the family take him to hospital. But Vincent Zammit did not want to be taken to hospital.

However, Jesmond Zammit said, later on during the day his father started fainting and became delirious so he and his mother decided to take him. A hospital consultant asked his father, who was floating in and out of consciousness, if they could carry out a minor operation that would determine whether he had lung cancer but his father refused, as he had done in the past.

At mid-day, the following day, he was told that his father would be dismissed. Since he had no car, the ambulance was to bring him home at about 5 p.m.But Jesmond Zammit and his mother were not prepared for what they were about to see.

“My father was on a stretcher wearing just a nappy. He looked like Christ before he was crucified... I told them I would not take him home in that state,”said Mr Zammit.

“His clean clothes were still in the bag and the clothes he was wearing when taken to hospital were wet and in a plastic bag.”

Mrs Zammit said the paramedics told her that her husband was being aggressive and she asked them how they expected her to handle him if they could not.

Since his blood sugar levels had been playing up, she said, he sometimes became aggressive but was not aware of his actions.

Once he threw a mug at her. But on Tuesday he was weak and quiet.

After the family objected to the situation, the paramedics called the police and when they arrived, a scuffle broke out. The Zammits were then taken to the police station for questioning.

Meantime, Vincent Zammit remained in the ambulance till about 9 p.m. when the family returned home.

Paramedics had changed him into his pyjamas and helped the family put him into bed.

“I don’t think he knows what happened,” said Mrs Zammit.

“At that moment, when we put him in bed, he returned to his senses and told me I should give the paramedics €10 each... I told him I certainly would not!”

The hospital authorities did not reply to questions about the case sent yesterday morning.