Former Boffa hospital to become new Floriana health centre

The former Sir Paul Boffa Hospital is to be refurbished and equipped to serve as the Floriana health centre, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela told parliament on Tuesday.

He made the announcement after the shadow minister for health, Adrian Delia, expressed concerns about the safety of parts of the building which hosts the current health centre.

Abela confirmed that parts of the current building at the top of Crucifix Hill had been declared unsafe by architects. Those sections had been closed and services transferred elsewhere, he said. The remaining parts were safe and could continue to be used until the refurbishment of the former Boffa Hospital was completed.

This, he said, would be an important project since Floriana health centre every day saw as many patients as the Mater Dei Hospital emergency ward.

Under current plans, he said, the former Boffa Hospital would also house sceening services which are currently based at Lascaris, Valletta.

Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, formerly King George V (KGV) Hospital was 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 1942.

It was rebuilt in 1948 under the premiership of Paul Boffa and renamed Sir Paul Boffa Hospital in 1976. It served as Malta's main oncology hospital until the opening of the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre. Some of its wards were also used to treat infectious diseases. Those services were later transferred to Mater Dei Hospital. Its last major use was for COVID-19 patients.

Karin Grech Hospital to be closed

During his intervention in parliament, Delia also raised concerns about the structural safety of Karin Grech Hospital in Guardamanga. He asked what action had been taken by the government after technical experts six months ago reported that parts of the building had suffered severe deterioration and were unsafe.

He read a letter he had recently received from a health worker who complained that chunks of concrete were falling from the ceilings, warning that there was a potential risk that people would be injured.

A section of Karin Grech Hospital.

The December report, he recalled, had spoken of severe deterioration of concrete slabs throughout the building while also pointing out that there was bad workmanship in previous repairs.  

Delia asked what the government had done about it. 

Reacting to a remark across the floor that a tender had been issued, Delia asked what it provided for. Would the damaged structures be repaired or rebuilt? Were patients and workers currently in danger? 

Replying, the health minister said those parts of Karin Grech Hospital - mostly offices - which were found unsafe had been closed.

There was no doubt, he said, that the hospital building was 'dated' and unsuitable for current needs. The political direction given to the Foundation of Medical Services (FMS) was therefore that Karin Grech Hospital should be closed, and its services transferred elsewhere.

A call for tender for the transfer of services was issued on March 29. It had since been extended and will close on May 26.

The hospital, he said, would eventually be demolished and replaced.

Karin Grech Hospital was opened in 1979 as an extension of St Luke's Hospital. It was named after 15-year-old Karin, who was killed by a letter bomb addressed to her father, a medical consultant, at the height of the doctors' strike in 1977. It is now mostly used as a 280-bed rehabilitation facility.