Elderly residents at a care home in Żejtun have been left without an air-conditioning system for months because of an apparent disagreement between the government and the operator over who is responsible for repairing it.
Active Ageing Minister Jo Etienne Abela said the disagreement is a result of “vague contractual obligations” but a copy of the contract seen by Times of Malta says that the maintenance of lifts and air conditioning is to be undertaken by the government.
The government-owned home, which has been operated by private elderly care company CareMalta for nearly 30 years, needs major repairs to its air-conditioning system but it appears the company is refusing to carry out the works, insisting that it is the government’s job to do it.
Meanwhile, elderly residents in the 200-bedded home have been forced to make do with fans and portable air conditioners wheeled in by the government.
A relative of one of the elderly residents told Times of Malta the mitigation measures hardly solve the issue.
“These residents are still giving up most of their pension to be cared for in this home and it is unacceptable that, for months, they have been denied the service they have been paying for,” he said.
It is unclear how last month’s heatwave affected the elderly and both the active ageing ministry and CareMalta would not say whether there were any reports of elderly people who suffered from heat exhaustion, hyperthermia or other complications resulting from excessive heat.
Throughout Malta some 21 people, aged between 52 and 97, died from heat-related symptoms in July, when the country was hit by a scorching heatwave with temperatures reaching a maximum 42.7 °C.
Let me assure you that government is committed to delivering top-quality services to all residents, without distinction. It may appear that the wheels are going slow but they are definitely turning- Minister Jo Etienne Abela
The ministry and CareMalta did not reply to questions, however, Times of Malta saw correspondence exchanged between the minister and one elderly resident’s relative in which Abela admits “the situation is unacceptable” and that “the matter results from vague contractual obligations”.
“I agree that the situation is unacceptable and that is why, weeks ago, I gave directions for a legal solution to be urgently sought from the law courts,” Abela wrote on July 27.
“Meanwhile, the Active Ageing and Community Care Directorate (AACC) is doing its utmost to help with portable air conditioners and fans and this is the best possible option in the present situation. Indeed, last week we launched emergency day-time respite services in our better-maintained facilities.”
The government and CareMalta first agreed to collaborate on the Żejtun home in 1994. It was the first public private partnership between the two and similar agreements were extended to other elderly homes in the following years.
But the relationship between the two has been rocky lately, particularly over the Cospicua home.
Over the past weeks, the government relocated the Cospicua home’s 128 residents to other homes to shut it down for extensive refurbishment, with Abela saying the government must rebuild parts of it due to faulty construction methods and also because the concrete used in the ceiling “is not even fit for a simple pavement”.
But the decision devastated many elderly residents who did not want to relocate and CareMalta distanced itself from the decision to close down the home, pointing out that, even though the company operates the home, the decision to close it down was made by the government.
In correspondence with a relative of one of the residents at Żejtun home, the minister said he was restricting visibility of the issue to avoid politicising it and turning older persons into “pawns on a chessboard”, saying that would be “utterly distasteful and unethical”.
“But let me assure you that government is committed to delivering top-quality services to all residents, without distinction. It may appear that the wheels are going slow but they are definitely turning,” he told the resident’s relative.