The owner of an abandoned hospital has been asked to explain why confidential medical records of former patients are still languishing inside the building, easily accessible to trespassers.

In July, the Information and Data Protection Commissioner Ian Deguara said St Philip’s Hospital owner Frank Portelli had complied with an order to preserve the confidentiality of the sensitive documents.

However, vandals have managed to smash at least one door and window in the hospital, on the same floor as the patient files.

While potential biohazards and staff records have been removed from the site, the patients’ data remains.

There has been a serious effort to block all doors and windows on the ground floor with iron slabs, limestone and concrete bricks and cement.

Deguara said that his office will be asking the hospital owner for an explanation about the matter.

“In the light of this information, pursuant to our standing procedure, we will re-engage with the owner of the former St Philip’s Hospital to give him the opportunity to defend himself and make his submissions,” Deguara said.

Questions sent to Portelli have so far remained unanswered.

The development is the latest in a months-long saga of repeated vandalism and an alleged arson at the hospital, which closed in 2012.

After an investigation by the data protection commissioner during the summer, the entrances of the run-down hospital were secured, particularly to protect the sensitive medical data contained in the files in one of its rooms.

But, over the past days, Times of Malta was alerted to fresh instances of breaking and entering.

A visit to the hospital on Sunday showed that there has been a serious effort in blocking all doors and windows on the ground floor with iron slabs, limestone and concrete bricks and cement.

Vandals have been able to access the hospital through smashing a door on the ground floor.

But at least one door and one window have been broken, allowing access to the inside of the hospital. There were also reports of a small fire inside the building on Monday.

The entire ground floor – including the reception area, a laboratory, the kitchen and a room that previously contained piles of thick files with staff details – has been completely cleared.

All files, furniture, alleged organs, syringes, machinery and equipment have been moved. But the basement and the floors above the ground floor remain much as they were back in May.

Most significantly, the room containing patients’ medical records, situated in the basement, remains as it was – filled with hundreds of scattered, accessible records.

These include sensitive information such as in-depth medical histories, names and other details that could leave former patients vulnerable to identify fraud. The situation was brought to light when a YouTuber filmed his visit, including his effortless walk into the hospital, through vandalised operating theatres, shattered medical equipment.

He flipped through medical records and walked over and around broken furniture, syringes and what he claimed to be “human organs”.

In an interview with Times of Malta, the hospital owner had blamed both vandals and the police regarding access to the records.

He said patients’ medical records were locked away safely in the basement but vandals broke in deliberately to spite him and the police were doing nothing to enforce the law.

The police maintained Portelli is lawfully obliged to secure the private premises.