“I used to think that the Gozo emergency helicopter was a waste of tax-payer money, that the Gozo hospital and Mater Dei don’t offer a good service at all, that I am too young and too fit to have a heart attack. I was so so wrong – about everything!”

This all started on a “normal relaxed Sunday evening with friends” when he started feeling uncomfortable.

“I was at a restaurant and I could not find a good seating position… I was restless and I couldn’t understand why.”

He then decided to walk home with his friends, and when he was halfway there, the chest pains started.

“I needed to take quite a few breaks on the way.”

As soon as he got home the chest pains increased massively – “It felt as if I had a 100-kilo weight pressing on my chest.”

“I started telling myself that it was just something wrong with a nerve somewhere.”

After half an hour of pain, Josef’s left arm and shoulder started hurting. The pain then travelled to the bottom of his jawline and up to his left ear and three molars.

“After long hours of holding on and telling myself it could not be a heart attack I was taken to the emergency hall in the Gozo General Hospital.”

Josef praised the speed at which the staff and services worked, breaking down the minutes it took to get him prepped for surgery, into the aircraft, down to Malta, and out of the operation theatre.

“Without the helicopter service and the great service at the hospital, my chances to be alive right now would have been near to nil.”

“The service at the emergency in Gozo is truly impeccable. I can’t think of anything wrong. The services between the Gozo emergency room and the operation theatre in Malta are, dare I say, record-breaking. I was taken in immediately without waiting in queues.

As soon as his blood results were available and showed that he was experiencing a “very strong heart attack” they prepared to take him into surgery.

In just eight minutes, they removed his clothes, prepared his attachments, and gave him the necessary injections to get him completely ready for the operation.

Take off to landing took “exactly 10 minutes” while the transfer from the Saint Luke’s helipad to Mater Dei took another 13.

“The total trip took around 34 minutes.”

The full service was “so smooth” that Josef’s younger brother, MEP candidate Thomas Bajada, instantly left his campaign trail in Gozo to rush to the ferry, finding no queue and still arriving at Mater Dei by the end of Josef’s surgery. 

“The service at the Mater Dei CCU was really mind-blowing… I never expected so much care from the nurses and staff there. I used to hear just moaning about the hospital… but I had never been before.”

Josef is speaking out about his intense ordeal because he believes it should be a lesson for everyone. Being just 45 and in great shape, Josef underestimated the possibility of such a serious health complication.

“There is not enough information given to the younger generations. Just because I worked out and kept track of what I ate with impeccable levels of cholesterol, it didn’t keep me from going through this life-changing experience. There should be more awareness.”

“I would have gone to the hospital immediately if I was sure these were the exact feelings one has when suffering a heart attack. I wish I knew all this information before.”

In footage posted to his social media, Josef captured shots of the helicopter taking off from Gozo, with himself in a hospital gown and with a cannula in his arm.

“I got to live another life,” he said. 

Josef was able to capture these moments because he was under a lot of medication, he told the newsroom.

“Thank God and thanks to all my family, friends, and the great teams at the Gozo General Hospital, Gozo Heliport, and Mater Dei. I will be on track in a few weeks.”

Lovin Malta wishes Josef a speedy recovery