As the health authorities took centre stage during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was actually a small private hospital in Qormi which cared for the majority of patients.

Kristen Buhagiar

Kristen Buhagiar was one of a team of two doctors who cared for COVID-19 patients around the clock at St Thomas hospital in Qormi.

The hospital, which opened its doors three years ago, carries out all kinds of surgeries and is open to any specialist who wants to use its three operating theatres.

Buhagiar, a GP Trainee, said the hospital had around three weeks to prepare for the unprecedented onslaught.

“At first, not all the management was in agreement with transforming part of our hospital into a facility to accept patients who had contracted COVID-19, but then we decided to go for it.

“We prepared ourselves well and I think we did a good job of it. We are proud of the part we had in helping the country take on this pandemic,” she said.

All of the hospital’s 32 in-patient beds, in five-, four- and two-bedded wards, were made available for COVID-19 sufferers but there were only 26 at any given time.

The single rooms were reserved for those who required further segregation – such as those who were undergoing chemotherapy.

There was one patient who apart from having contracted COVID-19, also had the flu, so had to be kept away from other patients.

The two-bedded wards were reserved for members of the same family who had contracted the virus such as father and daughter. The hospital was sectioned in two parts: the one for COVID-19 patients and the virus-free zone. Each of the two sections had their own specific entrance and dedicated lift.

We were not only seeing to the patients’ medical needs but also their emotional and psychological requirements

Staff members were informed and grouped into teams so that the rest of the hospital could carry on operating smoothly although most of the non-COVID-19 work ground to a halt and doctors and patients were cancelling procedures, especially when people were told to stay indoors.

Staff had to be trained and taught how to wear protective equipment and, especially, how to remove it, which is even more critical.

Despite displaying COVID-19 symptoms, the man had tested negative for the virus but still needed to be secluded.

Since then, the hospital has taken on 76 patients who needed to be monitored in a secluded area. None of the patients at St Thomas required intensive treatment because their condition was stable.

“We were monitoring their symptoms and readings on a regular basis and documenting everything while keeping contact to a minimum.

“We had one patient who needed to be taken to Mater Dei for more intensive treatment but all others recovered slowly while they were here,” Buhagiar said.

Patients were mainly given paracetamol and cough syrup when needed. Some even required some oxygen at times.

Patients were swabbed regularly and samples taken to Mater Dei for checking.

“We were in constant contact with the authorities and with the Infectious Diseases Unit at Mater Dei with updates on each patient,” she said.

The team at St Thomas was composed of 12 nurses, two doctors and two cleaners working in the hospital’s COVID-19 zone.

“We were not only seeing to the patients’ medical needs but also their emotional and psychological requirements, keeping their morale high because, since this was something new, they were quite scared.

“Our staff were also preoccupied and we kept reminding each other to wash our hands and not touch our faces. We took no chances,” she said.

Now that the number of infections had gone down drastically, healthcare staff were being given training on the treatment of COVID-19 patients at home.