Scheduled operations at Mater Dei Hospital started being carried out on Sunday this month, health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said this morning.

Addressing a news conference at the hospital, Mr Fearne said an average of 30 operations were currently being held on Sundays including ultroscopies, colonoscopies and endoscopies. Up to the end of March, only emergency operations were held on Sundays

The ultimate aim was for 50 operations to start to be held regularly every Sunday.

He said that the Sunday operations were made possible following the issue of a call for staff who wanted to work extra shifts on Sunday. A total of 113 professionals responded to the call. A second call, he said, was to be issued soon.

Mr Fearne said that Mater Dei was quieter on weekends than on weekdays but illnesses took no break so operations were now being held every day.

He said that while 6,000 MRIs were held in 2012, the number rose to 20,000 in the past year. The number of ultrasound increased from 17,000 in 2007 to 33,000 last year.

Mr Fearne said that, together with other initiatives, including the use of the operation room at Mosta health centre, the number of operations was expected to increase by 4,000 in a year.

The number of operations had increased from 36,000 in 2007 to 53,000 last year, he said.