1,241 patients on stretchers in two-month period

Replying to a Parliamentary Question by opposition MP Claudio Grech, health minister Konrad Mizzi revealed that up to 1,241 patients were kept on a stretcher at Mater Dei Hospital in the two-month period between December and January.

The peak was reached at the height of the yearly influx of patients suffering from influenza with up to 49 patients waiting for treatment on a stretcher on 14 January.

In a separate question tabled by Grech, the minister said that 110 patients were sent for treatment in foreign hospitals during the same period.

Between December 2013 and January 2014, 28 patients received treatment at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, a global centre of excellence in child healthcare.

The majority of patients were sent to Italian and British hospitals, including 22 patients who received treatment at Moorfields Eye Hospital, which is also situated in the English capital.