Thirteen professional medical associations have joined forces to propose the reintroduction of further restrictive measures to fight COVID-19.
In a statement on Friday, the large majority of the speciality colleges and associations said health services are facing a crisis "which will only get worse if such restrictions are not increased and effectively enforced".
Prime Minister Robert Abela on Thursday ruled out a total lockdown, shutting down social media rumours that the country is on the verge of severe COVID-19 restrictions.
The organisations said that with an increase in community spread, despite the measures which have already been reintroduced, a continued increase in hospital admissions, especially with winter around the corner, mirrored by an increase in the fatality rate together with the prospect of a critical care service which is already unable to cope with demand, is anticipated.
“Treatment in all spheres, that people have come to take for granted, will not be deliverable, should the health services be under strain. Many elective procedures have already been cancelled,” they warned.
They said that scenes such as those witnessed in Bergamo, Italy in March-April of this year should be avoided at all costs and the right of sick infected persons to have access to proper critical care for a good chance of survival had to be protected.
The individuals delivering this highly stressful critical care also had to be protected from emotional burn out to ensure that the highest level of standards is maintained.
The elderly, the vulnerable and the young immune-compromised also had to be protected so that they can look forward to a life post-COVID-19.
“We must all pull in the same direction so that we achieve the best possible results in the shortest time to put this nightmare scenario behind us and start living our normal lives again.
“Half-hearted measures will not work. We need drastic action in the short term so that both our health and the economy will begin to recover in the near future,” they said.
The statement was signed by the Malta Association of Public Health Medicine, the Association of Anaesthetists of Malta, the Malta College of Pathologists, the Association of Surgeons Malta, the Association of Physicians of Malta, the Association of Emergency Physicians, the Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Malta Paediatric Association, the Malta Association of Psychiatry, the Malta Association of Dermatology and Venereology, the Malta Association of Radiologists and Nuclear Medicine Physicians, the Geriatric Medicine Society of Malta, and the Malta Association of Ophthalmologists.