A number of visitors who took advantage of the offer of free medical tests during the Mater Dei open weekend were sent to the Emergency Department at St Luke’s Hospital after they were given an abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG) reading.

An ECG is a graphic that records the electrical activity of the heart over time.

Following the official inauguration on 29 June, an open weekend was organised between 30 June and 1 July.

One of the highlights of the weekend was an opportunity for the 80,000 visitors to take medical tests – using the latest equipment – for free.

It is estimated that over 1,000 people took advantage of this offer – which included an ECG.

The result of an ECG test is very simple: a printout with a diagram and one word: normal or abnormal.

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Sources explained that the readings were not interpreted by a doctor but only by the ECG technician and those whose ECG was classified as abnormal were referred to St Luke’s Hospital.

Several medical staff working that weekend in the Emergency Department at St Luke’s were astounded at the number of people who walked in with an abnormal ECG reading from Mater Dei.

According to protocol, an abnormal ECG reading is automatically classified as Priority 1 in the Emergency Department, so the Mater Dei visitors were bypassing other patients waiting in the department.

However, the sources added, an abnormal ECG reading does not necessarily mean that the patient’s life is in danger but could be the result of something the patient has eaten several hours before.

“These cases could have been holding up real emergencies but you are obliged to treat them all as priority cases because you never know with heart problems,” said one doctor.

Not only did they increase the workload of the Emergency Department, which is extra busy over the weekend, but they also possibly put on hold other serious cases and caused them unnecessary concern, he added.