Upgrading mental healthcare – Justin Anastasi timesofmalta.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesofmalta.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A woman has described the “disgusting” state of the seclusion ward at Mount Carmel mental health hospital after she spent about 10 days in a “cell” with nothing but a thin mattress to sleep on and a squat toilet with no flushing.
The woman, who took photos of the bare cell, said she was kept in the seclusion ward because she had tested positive for coronavirus.
Sources familiar with the psychiatric hospital confirmed the photos are genuine and that the ward was repurposed to host COVID-positive patients.
The woman, who is bipolar and preferred not to be named, explained that at the end of November she was admitted to Mater Dei Hospital for health reasons. At around the same time, her mother passed away.
Malta’s mental health commissioner has encouraged former patients at Mount Carmel to speak up about “far from desirable” conditions at the state-run facility, after a blog post by a woman who spent eight days there went viral.
Commissioner John Cachia said that authorities at the mental healthcare hospital had yet to upgrade protocols, despite him having repeatedly asked them to do so.
“The hospital environment is far from desirable and I have also repeatedly highlighted a number of practices which are still occurring at Mount Carmel Hospital which fall short of respecting patient rights and dignity,” the commissioner said.