Requests for testing for sexually transmitted infections have spiked in recent days, following a report in The Sunday Times of Malta last month.
The report had highlighted the number of patients who admitted to having had sex with prostitutes in Malta’s ‘massage parlour’ sex industry.
“Since the story first came out, our workload here has increased significantly. We were already very busy, but there has been an increase in the appointments made for testing,” a staff member at the GU Clinic, which tests for STIs, said.
“This is positive news as the ultimate goal is to treat people and stop the spread of STIs and so on. However, it has naturally put more of a strain on our human resources at the clinic,” she added.
Two weeks ago, The Sunday Times of Malta reported how more than 500 men who requested an STI test at the clinic in the past two years, had admitted to having had sex with women employed in Malta’s massage parlours at least once in the previous six months.
The figures, compiled by staff at Mater Dei Hospital, shed light on a trend of Maltese men, particularly those aged over 50, paying women in ‘massage parlours’ for sex.
This is positive news as the ultimate goal is to treat people and stop the spread of STIs
Clinic sources said that since the story had been published a number of men had come forward for testing and told staff they too had visited massage parlours for sex.
Many of these men had presented with STI symptoms.
Meanwhile, clinic sources played down fears that sex workers could pose a potential cancer risk.
Last week, the Confederation of Women’s Rights Organisations and sexual health expert Roderick Bugeja, both flagged the possibility that the spread of STIs through prostitution, could result in a form of deadly cervical cancer. Human papillomavirus, they said, could, if untreated, result in cancer.
The GU Clinic sources, however, were quick to point out that HPV is one of the most common STIs treated worldwide.
The spread of this infection could not be directly linked to massage parlours or other forms of prostitution, the staff at the clinic said.
Among the sex workers seen at the GU Clinic in recent years, the sources said, the most common STI diagnosed is syphilis.
Up until 2016 there were nearly 200 registered massage parlours on the island.
However, official figures are not available for the years after that as the government removed licensing requirements for the establishments.
Women who are made to work in these establishments can have sex with up to a dozen men a day, charging €50 – a fee normally split with the business owner.
Nearly one in every 10 men who signed up to be tested at the GU Clinic since 2017 have admitted to paying a sex worker for a sexual encounter.
Sources said that more than 90 per cent of these had admitted to nurses and doctors that the prostitution had taken place in massage parlours.
Most of them had sought testing after developing sexually transmitted infection symptoms.