Two new wards at Mater Dei Hospital will be completed by the end of the month, hosting 64 of the 500 additional beds that Malta needs to handle acute cases.

The wards were built in the past 10 months next to the A&E, which was originally earmarked for the project. The plans to build the wards on the emergency department had to be abandoned, however, as in some areas, the grade of concrete fell way short of the established standards.

The new wards, which can host a total of 68 beds, and have two isolation rooms, will take in patients on November 2. Meanwhile, the existing wards MAU3 and M7 will be vacated and refurbished to be brought up to standard, Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said this morning during a site visit.

By April there will also be a hospitality lounge for patients who are waiting for their discharge documents

Mr Fearne noted that some 240 people are admitted every day, a third of these through emergency. This means that by the end of February, when the refurbishment is complete, the hospital would be able to host an additional 64 patients.

By April there will also be a hospitality lounge for patients who are waiting for their discharge documents. Today, such patients remain occupying a bed until someone picks them up to take them home, while the actual Admission and Discharge ward is a corridor, projects director Celia Falzon explained.

The new bed management plans will also see the creation of an Observation Bay with 26 couches for patients who need to remain at the hospital for a few hours, and an Observation Ward if they need to be kept overnight.

The government is planning on increasing the number of beds at Mater Dei by 300, and more floors will be built on top of these two new wards.

Present for this morning's visit were Health Minister Konrad Mizzi and Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg.