A consultant in diving and hyperbaric medicine at Mater Dei Hospital has been suspended pending the outcome of a magisterial inquiry into the death of a Polish diver, health ministry sources have confirmed.
Krzysztof Białecki, 48, died while receiving treatment at the hyperbaric unit on July 6, hours after trying to save another diver.
The diving community was left in shock because Bialecki had entered the chamber for treatment while “fully conscious” and had been able to give the thumbs up sign to a visitor hours before his death.
“Białecki was on the way to recovery,” sources told Times of Malta.
Times of Malta understands that the consultant in charge on the day had gone home and left a junior trainee to monitor Bialecki’s recovery.
It was the first time in almost 40 years that a fully conscious diver died during treatment at the unit.
The accident that led to Białecki’s hospitalisation occurred off Żonqor, in Marsascala.
During a dive on the SS Polynesian wreck, Dominic Dubaj – another diver – ran into difficulties and Białecki, described as being an experienced diver, tried to help.
Both divers surfaced, without having time to decompress.
Dubaj died before getting to Mater Dei Hospital while Białecki was admitted to the care of the hyperbaric unit for treatment due to decompression sickness.
'Making good recovery'
According to an e-mail from the Professional Diving Schools Association (PDSA) sent to Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo, Białecki appeared “fully conscious and alert” and, after some hours of treatment in the chamber, he “appeared to be making good recovery”.
Sources told Times of Malta that at 4.48 pm, Białecki was in a stable condition and the hyperbaric consultant confirmed the patient was responding well to the treatment.
A dive centre employee who visited the diver in hospital reported that Białecki looked alert and was even giving the thumbs up through the glass of the chamber.
However, at 7.10 pm, Białecki was suddenly pronounced dead.
An ongoing magisterial inquiry is trying to establish the timeline of events, the cause of Białecki’s death and whether it could have been avoided.
Divers want 'thorough investigation'
Times of Malta is not naming the consultant while the inquiry is ongoing.
PDSA later contacted the tourism minister, calling for “a thorough internal investigation” to establish what went wrong at the hyperbaric unit.
In an e-mail to Bartolo, sent a week after the accident and seen by Times of Malta, PDSA raised the alarm about the consultant leaving Białecki “while the patient was in his care and undergoing lifesaving treatment”.
PDSA pointed out that the inquiry was necessary to put everyone’s minds at rest, especially all local and international divers and the staff at dive centres “whose livelihoods are fully dependant on the hyperbaric unit and the world-class care they deliver”.
“The scuba-diving industry and community cannot function without these facilities providing the very best care 24/7,” the association said.
PDSA pointed out that there has only been one case in Malta, in 1985, when a fully conscious diver entered the chamber for treatment but succumbed.
“In that case, the chamber facilities were not equipped to the high standard that the present chamber currently is,” it said.
Times of Malta is informed that the hyperbaric consultant in question holds degrees in diving medicine from the UK, operational underwater medicine from Durban University and hyperbaric underwater medicine from Stellenbosch University, in South Africa.
He is also a court expert for diving accidents and fatalities.
The magisterial inquiry into Białecki’s death is conducted by Magistrate Joe Mifsud.
Court experts Ruben Lanfranco, Edward Cherubino and Colin Galea are assisting.