Patients are being moved to the Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital as Mater Dei Hospital continues to struggle to cope with a flu outbreak.

The numbers admitted to hospital with the flu peaked last week, forcing Mater Dei, which continues to operate at full capacity, to transfer patients to Karin Grech. Mater Dei CEO Ivan Falzon confirmed that the hospital was working closely with Karin Grech and homes for the elderly to address the situation.

Read: Flu cases double, piling pressure on hospital staff

A Health Ministry spokesman, who said that collaboration between Mater Dei and Karin Grech hospitals was “an ongoing process, with patients transferred for rehab proposes from Mater Dei as the need arises”, confirmed that patients were being transferred from Mater Dei to Karin Grech.

Asked whether it was only those needing rehabilitation that were being transferred to Karin Grech or if other patients were also being moved to the hospital, the spokesman said it was “a combination of both”.

Some non-critical operations will be postponed while more critical operations go on as normal

A spokeswoman for Vitals Global Healthcare, which runs Karin Grech, said such transfers always happened when Mater Dei was at full capacity.

Asked whether the government was paying VGH extra for taking these patients, the spokeswoman said an agreement on the issue was in place before VGH took over and had “continued ever since”.

Capacity problems from the flu outbreak have also affected Gozo General Hospital. In a statement, VGH, which is also responsible for running the Gozo hospital, said that in the past few days, it had faced “a number of operational challenges due to a large number of patients with influenza symptoms seeking care”.

Read: Tackling the flu: simple measures needed to stop its spread

“The hospital management has spoken to heads of department and medical staff across the hospital, and it has been decided that areas typically used for day cases will be temporarily used to provide care for those patients requiring inpatient treatment.

“It has also been decided that certain non-critical operations will be postponed by a few days while more critical operations go on as normal,” VGH said.

Similar measures were taken on Monday at Mater Dei, with the hospital preparing for a spike in paediatric cases as children return to school this week after the Christmas holidays.