After weeks of being out of service due to refurbishment works, two of the three lifts at the Mater Dei Hospital car park will be operational again in the coming days.

For the past four weeks, patients and visitors have only been able to make use of only one lift, with the remaining two not working. 

Maintenance works were scheduled to take place between July 27 and August 8, however, the work was not completed on time.

One man said that he and his mother, who suffers from mobility issues, had to wait for the lift in the ‘scorching heat’ in one of the underground car parks.

“Every time the lift arrived, and the doors opened, no one would go out or let others enter. Many visitors, including the elderly and those in a wheelchair,  were left waiting for a good 10 minutes,” he said.

He commented that it was difficult to maintain social distancing while waiting for the lift and ended up crowding with others.

Mater Dei Hospital CEO Celia Falzon said that final works and checks are taking place and the lifts should be back in service in the next few days.

She said she understood the inconvenience caused by the maintenance work, but work on both lifts had to be done simultaneously.

The two lifts that are currently out of service.

Lifts were meant to be operational on August 8

The hospital announced maintenance works back at the end of July, stating at the time that visitors would only be able to use one lift servicing the public car park up till August 8.

“The public is kindly reminded that only four persons can use the remaining lift at any one time in order to respect social distancing protocols,” the post read.

It suggested dropping patients with mobility issues off at the outpatient entrance via the outpatient car park.