More than half the 160 COVID-19 patients admitted to the Good Samaritan Hospital over the last month have recovered and returned to their care homes, the healthcare facility said on Friday as it pushed back against “disingenuous” claims.

The privately-run medical facility in St Paul’s Bay is being used to care for elderly virus patients who live in care homes, to reduce the risk of virus outbreaks there.

Times of Malta recently reported that details about the deal between the government and facility operators Caring First Ltd remains shrouded in secrecy, with no information about how much the State is paying for use of the hospital.

Its spokesperson had told the paper the agreement precluded publication of specific commercial details.

Caring First, which is led by medical consultant and former Labour MP Louis Buhagiar, also operates St Thomas Hospital, which also provides hospital beds for virus patients to the government.

On Friday, Buhagiar lashed out at media reports which it said were “unfortunately based on recycled misinformation and intended to alarm the public and patient’s relatives unnecessarily”.

He did not specify which media reports it was referring to.

“It is a pity that at such a crucial juncture, a good initiative, intended to support the national health service, and the elderly in particular, has now been shrouded in disingenuous news,” the statement signed by Caring First Ltd chairman Buhagiar said.

“We are doing an excellent job, but we do not claim or expect to be perfect in the circumstances. We welcome constructive criticism. The least we expect, however, is to also have to alleviate unfounded concerns among the elderly at GSH and their families, which stem from misinformation and prejudice by people who have hidden or political agendas.

“It is only serving to fuel further anxiety among the elderly and their families,” he said.

Despite Malta’s relative success in containing the spread of COVID-19 in relation to its European counterparts, the hospital pointed out that the worst period of the pandemic in terms of transmissibility also coincided with the flu season, “exacerbating the need for all the hospital beds the country could muster”.

The Good Samaritan Hospital has been contracted by the government along with other facilities, for this purpose: to isolate elderly patients who test positive for COVID-19 in care homes and Mater Dei and care for them to minimise the risk of contagion, it stressed.

Until quite recently, positive patients were being left in close proximity with healthy elderly residents in care homes, resulting in undesired consequences, GSH pointed out.

Fully licenced

The newly built facility is licensed to function as a hospital, according to article 98 of the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance, it said, adding that to qualify, it was inspected on various occasions by the relevant health and social care standards authorities, following strict guidelines as regards equipment, staffing, protocols and operating practices among others.

It pointed out that all shared rooms ranged between 22.5 to 29 square metres, excluding bathrooms, which were all wheelchair accessible.

Moreover, daily ward rounds are manned by dedicated consultant geriatricians, doctors, nurses and carers, who have never experienced any shortage of monitoring and supporting equipment, the hospital said.

When patients do require more complex care, such as intensive therapy, they are promptly transferred to Mater Dei, GSH said, adding that it never purported to offer critical care services.

“These are very challenging times for everyone, and none are more conscious of this than the front-liners working at the hospital, not least because our patients are frail to start with, but also because medical staff live with the very real danger of being infected themselves,” GSH said.

“This is especially true while providing care to cognitively impaired patients, who are incapable of understanding that they are contagious.

“All this compounds the unpleasant nature and severity of the disease. Surely, stigmatising front-liners, who have contracted COVID-19, does not help.”

As of last Friday, at least six elderly homes were dealing with outbreaks, with some of the patients being cared for at the Good Samaritan. Two of the COVID-19 victims who died recently were at the facility.