Steward Health Care Malta has submitted an application to the Planning Authority to redevelop St Luke’s Hospital. It said it submitted the application on Wednesday.
"At the broadest level, the redevelopment is centred on a full revival of the St Luke’s Hospital building, increasing the quality and accessibility to open space and gardens within the campus grounds, enhancing community cohesion by integrating the main entrance and Pjazza San Luqa, and establishing a more coherent internal circulation system which provides on-site car parking while strengthening safe access to the public school," the company said in a statement.
The company did not give specific details of what the redevelopment will consist of, or when it will be completed. Last December it had said it had submitted an outline development application for the hospital’s long-awaited revamp and it handed the media the same photos as issued on Thursday.
In a statement, the US company said the hospital will be transformed from the current environment into a “modern and integrated health campus”.
Nadine Delicata, president of Steward Malta explained that the submission of the application marked a year of careful planning and collaboration.
“St Luke’s Hospital has served the Maltese community as the main hospital for decades and remains a place of significant cultural importance. We wanted to carefully look at the space and design a modern-day hospital which allows us to provide the best clinical care possible, yet which leaves the historical integrity of the facility untouched.
"Refitting and re-purposing such a space to meet modern clinical needs is significantly harder than developing a new green-field hospital, but we are extremely proud of the end result and look forward to beginning works to see the realization of this vision.”
Steward said that its team has also made 'considerable progress in works on the new Gozo Hospital.
“Key clinical objectives which guided the planning of the new acute care hospital included expanding inpatient bed provision, establishing the site as a disaster centre for Gozo with enhanced capabilities to provide acute care services during a crisis, incorporating design elements and technology that are unique to a teaching hospital and including a helipad to establish on-site emergency transfer capabilities to improve patient care."
It said a complete renovation of the existing Gozo General Hospital building will transform it into a vibrant ambulatory centre and complement the new acute care hospital.
The new acute care hospital will be physically connected and sited to integrate the recently completed Barts Medical School.
The company said its plans had been drafted through an intensive effort involving a broad cross-section of the hospital communities, external stakeholders and government officials.