It is the government's responsibility to address the shortage of beds in hospital rather than simply passing the buck to the business community, the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry said yesterday.

The chamber was "stunned" by Parliamentary Secretary for Health Joe Cassar's suggestion that relatives should care for patients recovering from an operation to make more beds available in hospital.

"The business community is aware of the country's social needs and realities, but the bed shortage problem in hospital is no fault of the public, let alone of the employers," it said.

Dr Cassar has said that patients who no longer need to remain in hospital, especially those living alone, should not do so simply because they are not yet self-sufficient.

He was not just referring to post-operative patients but to all those who no longer require hospital care, suggesting that relatives might have to take leave to care for patients at home.

However, the chamber said employees would have to either take paid, unpaid or sick leave, which it could not accept, especially during the present difficult economic situation.

This week, the Employers Association and the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, reacted similarly to Dr Cassar's suggestion. Association president Pierre Fava said some working mothers already called in sick if their children were unwell and if people were now expected to take care of recovering relatives, it would be tantamount to the government shifting the burden back on to the community.

"We have spent a lot of money to build a state-of-the-art hospital and this should be able to handle post-operative patients as well," he said.

Chamber director general Vince Farrugia said this could be a serious threat to small businesses.

He said when a self-employed person was sick, the enterprise tended to grind to a halt, let alone if they had to care for recovering relatives.