The Health Minister’s claim that there are no longer any patients in Mount Carmel Hospital’s dangerous wards has been contradicted by staff, with one source saying wards with condemned ceilings are still occupied.

Sources familiar with the state of the mental health hospital said the picture the Chris Fearne had painted last Thursday was a far cry from reality.

One source claimed there were around 30 patients crammed into each of at least four wards whose ceilings had been condemned.

Staff members are said to be angry and surprised at the minister’s claim.

Questioned about the matter, a spokeswoman for the ministry said areas requiring attention had been classified by structural engineers based on risk factors.

“Mount Carmel management has ensured that all areas with the highest risk factors have been addressed by removing staff and patients equally, performing the required repairs and adding temporary support structures. 

“Where necessary, wards have been vacated to ensure patients and staff are not housed in high-risk areas,” the spokeswoman said.

Staff are said to be angry and surprised at minister’s claim

This did not mean the rest of the hospital required no intervention, she added.

“But in order to ensure that the only psychiatric hospital in Malta retains its ongoing operations, the areas with the highest risk factors or which were deemed to be unsafe have been addressed immediately”.

All other hospital areas will be addressed “in turn”. Apart from vacating certain sections and transferring patients, measures taken involved “temporary strengthening, immediate repairs, as well as total gutting out or demolishing parts of the roofs”.

“Two examples are wards MW2 and FW2 where structural works have been designed in full and are expected to commence in the coming weeks,” the spokeswoman said.

Questions about the state of the hospital were also raised by a former patient, who claimed that besides infrastructural issues there were problems with health and safety equipment, such as fire alarms.

“If a fire starts, the entire hospital is in danger. There are no alarm bells to wake up patients at night,” the former patient said.

The ministry spokeswoman confirmed there were issues related to fire alarms “in two particular wards”.

“In one ward the alarms have been installed while works are ongoing in the second ward,” she said.