STATEMENT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

The Department of Health refers to the report “Unnecessary Death - ambulance too late, too ill-equipped to save man” appearing in today’s edition of ‘The Malta Independent’.

The  Department of Health denies the allegations of any negligence on the part of the ambulance service as reported in the above report.  The newspaper headlines “ambulance too late” and “too ill-equipped to save man” are completely untrue and malicious.

The ambulance, together with a nurse and a porter, were the first to arrive at the site of the accident.  From our records the ambulance arrived at the site of the accident in less than 10 minutes from the call for assistance.  The ambulance was fully equipped to deal with all emergencies, including 3 oxygen cylinders and the other normal first aid apparatus.

It is the responsibility of the rescue services, to extricate victims from any dangerous environments.  The role of the emergency medical service is to provide all necessary first aid care once the victim is transferred to a safe environment.  This is standard international protocol in the management of accidents and Malta partakes to such international practice.

The Department of Health confirms that all the appropriate first aid measures were given to the victim by the ambulance nurse and the patient was quickly transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital.

Whilst deploring such irresponsible and frivolous reporting, the Department of Health reserves the right to seek legal redress against the Malta Independent.