Health Ministry orders magisterial inquiry into helipad blunder

The Health Ministry has ordered a magisterial inquiry to establish how a car ended up being parked on the helipad at St Luke's Hospital, obstructing the landing of an AFM helicopter.

Gozitan businessman and Ta' Frenc Restaurant managing director Ino Attard was brought to Malta on Saturday morning. He passed away on Sunday, having suffered a brain haemorrhage. Mater Dei CEO Joe Caruana and clinical director Joseph Zarb Adami said the patient's death was unrelated to the helipad incident.

"Despite the obstacle created by the parked car, the patient took approximately the same time to arrive as under normal circumstances," Caruana said.

The helipad is situated next to the Malta Enterprise offices and signs showing the location of a helipad are in place. However, Mater Dei will investigate further and, if the necessity arises, more signs will be placed.

“Mater Dei has been using the helipad for over a year and a half. But something, somewhere went wrong. We will get to the bottom of that,” Caruana said.

No information is as yet available on who parked the rented car that blocked access to the helipad. It is however believed that the car was used by an employee or a person who has access to the area.

In an informal press briefing, head of government communications Kurt Farrugia announced a magisterial inquiry will be held to establish the facts and details surrounding the obstruction of the helipad at St Luke's Hospital.

Six entities are involved, and responsibility for the incident has to be shouldered, Mater Dei's deputy CEO Ivan Falzon said.

"There were no particular delays that could have endangered the patient's life as the medical procedure did not suffer any delays. The patient died 24 hours later," Farrugia reiterated.

Moreover, Mater Dei's CEO explained, the patient was not stable enough to be immediately transferred onto the helicopter when it reached the Gozo General Hospital.

Giving the timeline of events, Caruana explained that the call for assistance reached Mater Dei at 5am on Saturday morning.

As soon as the call was made, two teams left Mater Dei Hospital: the first a technical team to check the landing pad and a second medical team to fly to Gozo.

When the technical team reached the landing pad at St Luke's Hospital, at 5.40am it was established that it was not safe for the helicopter to land. Meanwhile, the medical team was instructed to depart from the Luqa air wing. 

At 7.40am, the helicopter carrying the patient landed at St Luke's hospital. The car had been towed away.

Caruana said Mater Dei had been using the helipad at St Luke's Hospital for over the past year and a half.

Zarb Adami said the patient had been unconscious and the brain haemorrhage was so "big", it was unlikely he would have made it. His organs will be donated.

The informal press briefing also helped clarify "inaccuracies" that were issued by the Health Department on Monday morning. Facts established so far confirm that the incident happened in the morning, and not in the evening, and the helicopter had not even left Malta to pick up the patient from Gozo when the authorities realised that access to the helipad was blocked.