Health care workers have called for the extension of 24/7 x-ray services beyond the Mosta health centre, warning of the strain this is having on the clinic.

As it stands, the Mosta health centre is responsible for any x-rays needed after 7pm from Monday to Saturday, along with any needed on Sundays and public holidays.

“So if a patient gets hurt, let us say, in Marsaskala, he goes and queues in Paola, while in pain -then he sees the doctor, who would see that an x-ray is required, and is then sent to Mosta,” a healthcare worker told Lovin Malta. 

“Once the x-ray is done in Mosta, that person will queue again to see a different doctor in Mosta,” he explained.

“Some of them would then need to be sent to Mater Dei hospital should the required treatment, such as a special plaster or surgical intervention, queue there again and get the treatment,” he said.

“So this patient will have to queue, possibly over two hours each time, see different doctors, which means different interpretation and higher chance for error, and then possibly end up in hospital as well!”

“This also means that people in the Mosta (so anyone from Mellieħa to Birkirkara – might be more than half of the population – especially in summer where you have jam-packed hotels in Qawra, summer residences and beach accidents) have larger queues since they have people trickling from Paola and Floriana.”

People coming from Rabat or Birkirkara will also end up loading the Mosta clinic even more, as both health care centres are not equipped with an x-ray machine.

“So there is a huge strain on the healthcare staff in Mosta. What also is happening is that some patients with minor injuries in Emergency in the afternoon and evening are asked to come to Mosta – and this makes the situation even worse.”

“The solution here would be that: as Floriana and Paola health centres are 24/7 centres, just like Mosta – they should also have their x-ray machine available 24/7.”

The healthcare worker also pointed out that the Paola x-ray machine had been out of order for a number of days, which led to the already existing strain on Mosta’s healthcare centre worsening.

“At this point, the dismay is at its peak.”

Lovin Malta reached out to the Health Ministry to enquire about the Paola x-ray centre and to ask whether it has any plans to extend x-ray services past 7pm for Paola and Floriana.

“The Paola Health Centre x-ray service resumed this morning. The temporary suspension of service was due to a fault which required the importation of a specific part. Repairs have now been completed and the machine was checked and certified by the radiographers,” a representative said.

However, the Ministry did not comment on whether it plans to extend x-ray services, in order to relieve the strain on the Mosta health centre.

Do you think the x-ray service should be extended?