St James expected to take over Capua Palace Hospital today

St James Hospital is expected to formally take over Sliema's Capua Palace Hospital this morning, sources said yesterday.

The contract is expected to be signed between AX Holdings chairman Angelo Xuereb, owner of Capua Hospital, and St James Hospital managing director Josie Muscat following several months of talks.

The hospital, which is in George Borg Olivier Street, will be renamed St James Capua and will be run as a separate entity to the other hospital in Zabbar.

The deal includes the sale of all equipment within the hospital and will stipulate that St James Hospital is to take on the 80 or so employees on Capua's books, the sources said.

The Union Haddiema Maghqudin has in the meantime assured staff that they would not lose their jobs as a result of the takeover.

St James Hospital had been looking for a larger hospital to take on the increasing workload.

Capua Palace Hospital, which has 80 beds and five operating theatres, was completed in 1996 at a cost of Lm7.5 million.

The palace building itself, adjacent to the hospital, and the neighbouring Victoria Hotel will remain the property of AX Holdings.

Apart from a 17-bed hospital in Zabbar, St James Hospital also operates several affiliated clinics that operate in various specialised fields, ranging from cosmetic dermatology to vision disorder treatment.

St James is also planning to open a clinic in Ghajnsielem.