Gozo Hospital shifts medical services to Barts campus to create space for COVID-19 patients

The Gozo General Hospital is scaling up the number of beds for COVID-19 patients by shifting some of its medical services into the Barts Medical School, Steward Malta said.

The healthcare company which runs the Gozo hospital said chemotherapy services and related infusions will now be located at the medical school to provide a safer environment for patients as the hospital repurposes its wards to cater for COVID-19 cases.

Steward said the hospital has also moved outpatient consultations into the medical school, including the anticoagulation and phlebotomy clinics, to enable COVID-19 preparedness works. Additional work areas have also been provided on campus for hospital management and administration staff to free up space in the Gozo General hospital, which will have 120 beds available for patients with COVID-19.

The health provider said that the first phase of this expansion was now complete with 41 beds up and running to cater for COVID-19 patients. The hospital currently has three COVID-19 patients recovering and all are in good health.

Steward Malta also said that two of the largest lecture theatres on campus have also been emptied of furniture and are being used to support the temperature-controlled storage of over two million euros worth of additional medical equipment being procured by Steward Malta for COVID-19 purposes.

"This approach reflects Steward’s dedicated care centre model for COVID-19, whereby isolating COVID-19 patients for treatment serves two important purposes. First, by locating COVID-19 patients in a focused environment, Steward can better dedicate the necessary resources, equipment and expertise to provide COVID- 19 patients with focused care and the very best opportunity for a full recovery. Second, it allows Steward to continue caring for other patients who are sick, who are mid-course in treatments, who need to continue to receive the necessary treatment and who need high-quality care,” Steward Malta executive director Nadine Delicata said.