A total of 106 patients have been moved out of Mount Carmel Hospital after it emerged they had been living there for years despite not having any mental health issues. 

Health Minister Chris Fearne disclosed the number on Tuesday during a visit at the hospital to tour a new ward. The ward, which has 30 beds, will welcome the first group of patients on Wednesday. 

According to Mr Fearne, the 106 patients had been admitted to the hospital years ago even though they did not require any psychiatric treatment. They were only admitted to Mount Carmel, he said, because they had nowhere else to go. A further 24 patients will be relocated in the coming weeks, the minister went on.

In recent weeks, the run-down state of the hospital has again been under the spotlight after a former senior official told a parliamentary committee that patients at the state mental health hospital had been made to endure freezing cold showers in the height of winter because there was no hot water for months on end.

Mr Fearne speaks to the media. Video: Matthew Mirabelli

They were only admitted to Mount Carmel, he said, because they had nowhere else to go.

The comments prompted several reactions, including from mental health NGO Richmond Foundation, which urged the authorities to close down the hospital "for all psychiatric conditions", insisting that Mount Carmel was unfit to treat patients.

'10-year plan'

The NGO has argued that patients with psychiatric problems should not be immediately admitted to Mount Carmel, as this singled them out from those with physical problems. Instead, it said, effort to treat mental health in the community should be stepped, while those with acute problems should be moved to Mater Dei. 

Asked about this, the minister told the Times of Malta that the government has a "10-year plan" that includes measures to move towards treating most mental health patients through community care.

"We are also working on the new hospital at Mater Dei. Obviously, these things do not just happen in a day so, meanwhile, we are relocating as much of the patients as possible while also providing a suitable environment for the remaining 300 patients or so," Mr Fearne went on.

In April, the Times of Malta had revealed that around three-quarters of the wards at the psychiatric hospital, in Attard, have condemned ceilings.

 

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