One of the first health institutions in the country to take in COVID-19 patients – the Boffa hospital – is in a filthy and rundown state, those in quarantine there have said, making their stay unbearable.
Footage from inside the post-war era hospital, seen by Times of Malta, shows chipped and filthy floor tiles in places accessible by patients.
One of the 28 patients recovering there has said there have also been instances when the cleaning team had to sweep cockroaches off the floor in common areas.
Sources with knowledge on the running of Boffa hospital said that healthcare professionals no longer regard the place as a hospital. It is understood only COVID-19 patients who have nowhere else to go are being taken there.
“The people there do not require medical assistance but are there only because they cannot self-isolate at home. Even if they did require this, it’s very difficult to provide proper care because of the state of the building,” one source said.
There have been plans to refurbish the building, but they are understood to have been put on hold because of the outbreak.
The state of the building is also proving to be a challenge to the few healthcare workers based at Boffa hospital and who are struggling to work in an environment that does not meet the necessary standards.
Questions sent to the Health Ministry on the matter have remained unanswered.
Before the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in March, Boffa hospital was one of the first institutions set up to take in infected patients. At the time, only a few patients with dermatological conditions were treated at the facility.
The hospital had housed the country’s oncology centre up until the end of 2015, when staff and patients migrated to the newly-built Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre at Tal-Qroqq.
Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, former King George V Hospital, was initially opened in 1922 as a memorial to the men of the British Merchant Navy who died in World War I. The building was severely damaged by aerial bombing in 1942 raids but hospital services were never interrupted.
The hospital was rebuilt in 1948 under the premiership of Paul Boffa and renamed Sir Paul Boffa Hospital in 1976.