Patients’ rights are being violated at Mt Carmel Hospital - Godfrey Farrugia

Former health minister and current Partit Demokratiku MP Godfrey Farrugia yesterday said that patients’ rights are being violated at Mount Carmel Hospital.

He made the claim by way of an open letter on Facebook to the Commissioner of Health, stating that patients’ rights are being violated as not enough beds are available at Mount Carmel hospital.

Half of the patients in ward 8B, he said, are sleeping on mattresses in the corridor. In the open letter, Farrugia urged an immediate investigation to be carried out on ward 8B dedicated to the rehabilitation of drug addiction, where he says current conditions are going against the mental health act.

“In this hall, there are 10 beds in different rooms but there are double the amount of patients and the excess patients end up sleeping on a mattress on the floor in the corridor.”

Farrugia said that even the patients are uninformed, that protocols don’t even exist and there is a lack of equipment.

The hall is divided in to three zones, with iron gates to separate men from women. Supposedly, it was meant to be just the men’s room but it is now mixed, Farrugia claimed. “The atmosphere is one chaos and that creates tension,” Farrugia explained.

However, according to Farrugia, currently no nurse employed by the government wants to work and take responsibility for the ward, and consequently, the Department of Health remedied the issue by calling private nurses.

“I understand that these nurses are not all specialised in the field. However I want to applaud them for the work they are doing in this hall even though it is not their place,” he wrote.

There is also an absence of an outdoor yard, which Farrugia claims, means smokers are smoking inside which is a detriment to patients and medical staff.

He concluded by stating that hospital administration is declining, as he implored the health commissioner to investigate and take action.