The situation at Mater Dei Hospital is going from bad to worse due to a lack of beds, as a result of which patients were being kept waiting for long hours on stretchers in corridors and places which lacked basic medical facilities required in urgent cases, the Labour Party said.

Social Policy spokesman Michael Farrugia and health spokesman Anthony Zammit said the everyday stories that were taking place should bring the government to shame.

The PL had been bringing the miserable situation of the emergency department to the attention of the authorities for years but its statements always fell on deaf ears. Employees at Mater Dei were doing all that was humanely possible to provide the necessary care in an environment created by the government’s stubbornness and lack of vision.

When the new hospital opened, there had also been a lack of staff because of the government’s lack of foresight. The government had promised that there would not be social cases or people in corridors at Mater Dei but like the promise of free health care for all, these promises were evaporating into thin air.

The PL insisted that health should not just be free but it should also be given on time and it should be of the highest possible level with the patient being given the utmost priority.