Preliminary investigations indicate that a computer short-circuit was the cause of a fire at the Mosta health centre, which had to be closed down early yesterday morning, a spokesman for the health division told The Malta Independent.

Only members of staff were present at the health centre at about 3.15am yesterday, when the computer short-circuit caused a wall panel in one of the treatment rooms to catch fire, said the spokesman, adding that the fire managed to spread to different rooms before members of the Civil Protection Department arrived on site.

“Our initial plan was to close down part of the health centre until 8pm and accept only emergency cases, but seeing that the damage was considerable, we thought it would be wiser to close down the whole centre so that repairs would be carried out as fast as possible,” said the spokesman.

The health centre will be closed to the public until further notice and all services have been temporarily transferred to the Birkirkara health centre; tel. 2149-4961/2/3. All appointments at the Mosta centre will have to be rescheduled.

Normal opening hours are applicable with regard to the pharmacy at the Mosta health centre. Staff at the Mosta health centre may be contacted on tel. 2141-1065 or tel. 2143-2062.