Mater Dei patients being kept in former canteen and hospital store, Opposition leader says

Patients at Mater Dei Hospital are being kept in the former canteen and hospital, according to photos published by Opposition leader Bernard Grech.

In a post on social media, Grech posted photos of makeshift wards in the hospital's former food cafeteria and temporary showers in ward halls.

In another photo, a hospital storage space seems to be being used as a hospital ward too.

He noted that, while this is the stafe of affairs at Mater Dei Hospital, the government is still paying millions to Steward Healthcare after three public hospitals were privatised in 2015.

The hospitals were Gozo General Hospital, Karin Grech Hospital, and St Luke's Hospital.

"The government should return the three public hospitals to the people and reinvest the millions it is paying to Steward in better health care and quality of life we deserve," Grech stated.

In October 2022, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne announced the government will be giving Steward Healthcare around €80 million in funds this year, which the company will use to administer the two hospitals, pay staff and purchase equipment.

Grech also mentioned the growing list of medicines that are out of supply, "including necessities such as oral antibiotics and clindamycin". 

He further stated that, as Mater Dei's services deteriorate, the government wastes money on "four dinosaur monuments, several inaugurations of the same roads, and direct orders to persons of trust".