A funeral director is under arrest and a contractor's employee working at Mater Dei Hospital has been released on police bail after being questioned as part of investigations into claims that personal details about deceased people are being leaked by somebody at the hospital to funeral directors. 

Times of Malta reported about the claims on February 22 and Health Minister Chris Fearne had ordered an inquiry by the hospital authorities.

It is understood that the employee admitted that information was leaked. 

The son of a patient who died at Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre had told Times of Malta that two funeral directors had turned up at his home to offer their unsolicited services even before he had been officially advised by the hospital about the death.

He pointed the finger at hospital staff, accusing them of divulging personal information, giving the undertakers his father’s name and time of death and his address and mobile number.

“Two funeral directors came to my house. One of them was about to ring the doorbell.

“Had he not been stopped by a friend of mine, who arrived just in time, I would have been informed about my father’s death by a funeral director,” the man wrote in a lengthy e-mail to Health Minister Chris Fearne. 

The hospital management had reported the case to the police. 

READ: Undertakers are ‘harassing’ bereaved