The order was issued by the OHSA following an inspection carried out by OHSA officers
on Friday.
The experts, serologist Robert Cardona, pharmacist Mario Mifsud and scientific officer Godwin Sammut, will be reporting for work at the Finance Ministry today since they are under the impression that they fall under the jurisdiction of this Ministry.
The Forensic Lab seems to be nobody’s responsibility as officials from three ministries all denied being responsible for the lab and everyone is passing the buck.
The Justice and Home Affairs Ministry, the Industry, Investments and Information Technology Ministry and the Finance Ministry all said the responsibility to grant The Malta Independent permission to take photographs of the lab was not theirs.
This obviously casts doubts on how prepared these ministries were to carry out the necessary changes to improve the working environment at the lab.
The permanent secretary at the Finance Ministry – Paul Zahra – is the person to whom the OHSA letter was addressed. However, The Malta Independent was referred to John Gatt, the permanent secretary at the Industry, Investments and Information Technology Ministry.
A spokesman for this ministry phoned TMI offices yesterday morning insisting that the paper had been mis-directed because the Forensic Lab did not fall under the jurisdiction of his ministry. He told TMI to speak to Charles Deguara, the permanent secretary at the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry.
When The Malta Independent contacted Mr Deguara yesterday, he said that his ministry was not responsible for the lab and was only interested in the matter because the slow down in the operations of the Forensic Lab would have a domino effect on the operations of the law courts, which falls under his ministry’s responsibility.
The Forensic Laboratory staff have said that they are not able to work in that environment any longer because of the lack of necessary equipment.
As examples of shortcomings at the lab, the experts mentioned fume cabinets and biological cabinets that did not protect them while they are carrying out the tests on items given to them by the court.
The experts said that because of this situation at the lab, they are not able to carry out their job in a professional manner, adding that before the situation at the lab is improved, they will not be
able to carry out their job as
expected.
At the forensic lab there is only one 20-year-old microscope and there were no proper electricity fittings. The experts had to work in the same room where court exhibits are stored, including blood-stained clothes, blood samples and other potentially infectious items. Not even surgical gloves and surgical masks are available for the experts to protect themselves from any infection or disease.
It is understood that the experts have not been contacted following the article that appeared in The Malta Independent yesterday. They are planning to report to work at the Finance Ministry today because they have nowhere to work.
The forensic experts have long been complaining about the lack of adequate equipment and resources to carry out their job professionally.
They had also written a letter to all magistrates and Attorney General Silvio Camilleri on 3 September explaining the matter. Nothing has happened since then.