The Health Ministry acknowledged this afternoon that there could have been more sensitivity in the talks which had been held on the setting up of a tent outside Mater Dei Hospital.

In a statement a day after the prime minister ordered the tent to be dismantled, the ministry said this was supposed to have been a temporary structure meant to ensure that the hospital was able to handle a spike in demand without disrupting day care operations.

Other measures were being taken to ensure that no operations were cancelled, including sub-contracting to private clinics if necessary.The ministry said the government had inherited an acute care hospital with a serious shortage of beds.Various short and long-term measures were being taken to tackle the problem.

48 beds were added to the hospital last year and a further 52 would be added this year.

The Secretariat for the Elderly had also added 47 beds through public-private projects.

A further 300 would be added in the future.

There was also improved turnover of 'social' cases at the hospital.

The setting up of the tent was one of the temporary measures in order to avoid the risk of cancellation of day care operations  because of overcrowding.

Over the coming days, another 22 acute care beds were to be added to the hospital and the tent was never meant to exceed this period.

During the talks on the setting up of the tent, there could have been more sensitivity and prudence over how patients, their relatives, and the public, could view this temporary measure, the ministry said.

It added that it would continue to do whatever it could to meet the demand for hospital care expected in the coming weeks, to ensure that day services were not disrupted, as they were in the past.

A call for offers had been issued so that some day care operations could be transferred to private clinics, if necessary. 

The interests of the patient were not only good care, but care that was timely, the ministry said.

It thanked all workers for their service, adding that it was also working on a long term plan to solve the problem once and for all, a plan which, it said, the former government never considered.