It is quite clear that Mater Dei Hospital doesn’t have enough space to deal with the current size of Malta’s population. What’s worse, is that the government hasn’t implemented certain projects it had mentioned in the past that would help alleviate this issue.

In October, this newsroom ran a story stating that former Minister Godfrey Farrugia had said that a plan to expand Mater Dei Hospital has been on the cards for nearly a decade, but it has not materialised so far. “The hospital at the moment is too small to meet the demands of the Maltese population,” Farrugia had told The Malta Independent on Sunday, and he is 100% right.

Mater Dei has wards which weren’t originally wards, but were repurposed.

But what exactly happened to the Outpatient’s block that was promised? The thing is, the hospital has a space problem right now, yet where exactly is this promised building? Its not built, and the situation is only going to get worse as the population number continues to rise. This is not to mention the promised acute mental health hospital which was had even been mentioned back in 2018.

Further highlighting issues regarding the hospital’s size, MaltaToday ran a story in January of this year stating that, in a recent tender, the Health Ministry wants to outsource 3,500 surgeries.

The government had worked on improving primary health care,  but the country needs enough hospital beds, hospital space and hospital personnel to cater for the current population. There are currently 15,768 persons on the waiting list for an MRI at Mater Dei Hospital, according to information tabled in Parliament. That’s a ridiculous number. The Times of Malta recently published an article which read that patients who need a fractured bone operation are waiting up to three days for surgery at Mater Dei Hospital and people in emergency have been forced to wait on stretchers for up to 10 hours, citing witnesses.

One idea could be to refurbish St Luke’s Hospital, which had there been diligent planning and care, could have already been done. But in what was manifestly a questionable move, the government, under Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at the time, had years ago transferred the hospital to Vitals Global Healthcare, an entity that had no previous experience in managing hospitals. Here we are years later, targets that were put on paper in accordance with the deal were missed. #

The deal was last year annulled by the courts in a harsh judgement which described the deal as having been fraudulent, which was then also confirmed on appeal, with the courts here saying there was collusion.

Presently, it is clear that given the high population growth numbers experienced over recent years, more needs to be done to improve hospital space in the country. With more space, more services could be offered, and obviously more staff will be needed. Looking forward, the government has an obligation to act to ensure that delays are cut down, more space is made available, and all the while ensuring that Malta’s medical staff, who one must say have been fantastic in their work, have the numbers they need.