Two hospital employees had to drag a critically ill patient on a stretcher at St Luke’s Hospital out on the street, and push him past cars and other potential health hazards, as the elevator that was supposed to take him to the Intensive Therapy Unit broke down.

Shocking footage broadcast by ONE News on Friday showed two hospital employees hastily pushing the patient’s heavy stretcher, equipped with an oxygen cylinder for the patient’s respirator and a drip stand, out of the Radiology Department of the hospital and into the street, all the way around the block towards the entrance of the ITU.

The incident happened on 27 September. On that day, the ITU consultant had asked the patient to undergo some tests, including radiography. It was here that he was taken to the Radiology Department. But when he was about to be taken back, the elevator stalled, and the bed-bound patient had to be taken all the way back to the ITU through the streets outside the hospital buildings.

The Radiology department is located next to the children’s wards, known as Karin Grech Hospital, while the ITU is 100 metres away, in another building.

The patient, aided by breathing apparatus, intravenous treatment through a drip, as well as a urine bag, ended up being pushed all the way from one section to the other, dodging cars passing through the narrow street and with cars parked on either side. As the street turned into a gradient, the two medical employees had to struggle to push the patient to his destination, as the footage shows. The patient also had to be stopped in the middle of the road to wait for a barrier gate, meant to keep out cars from going next to the Emergency Department, to open.

Surely it was not a good week for Malta’s health service as this news came just two days after the publication of the Euro Health Consumer Index, placing Malta’s public healthcare system in the 20th place among 27 EU member States including Switzerland and Norway. Malta slipped down seven places in this classification since 2006.