NEWS | Sunday, 15 July 2007

Faulty Gozo decompression chamber attracts tourists without saving lives

By Raphael Vassallo
The new decompression centre at the Gozo General Hospital is unlikely to save any lives this summer, for the simple reason that it is still inoperative eight months after its official inauguration in December 2006. But this hasn’t stopped the EU co-financed hyperbaric unit from serving at least one of its original declared aims: that of enabling tour operators to promote Gozo as one of the safest diving destinations in the world.
The much touted decompression chamber at the Gozo General Hospital was part of a project entitled “Niche Tourism for the Island of Gozo”, alongside the scuttling of former Gozo ferries Karwela and Cominoland to create artificial reefs. At the opening ceremony, presided over by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi in December, Minister Giovanna Debono said that the aim was “to give a holistic approach to diving as an area with potential growth for the benefit of the tourism industry for Gozo.” The European Union provided 75 per cent of the financing for the project, with the remaining 25 per cent forked out by the government of Malta. The total cost was Lm250,000.
Access the Gozo ministry’s website today, and you will still find the original press release claiming that, “besides offering a medical service at the Gozo General Hospital, the chamber will also serve as a tool to attract more divers to Gozo, turning the island into a safer destination for divers to practice their sport.”
Eight months later, the chamber has yet to admit its first patient. The official reason is “problems related to staff training”, although recent press reports point towards abnormally high levels of CO2 on account of proximity to the hospital incinerator.
In any case, the second claim of Gozo as a “safer destination” has since been taken up with gusto by others in the island’s busy dive-tourism industry. One Gozitan dive school even declares on its website: “(The decompression chamber’s) central position means it’s never further than five miles from any of the dive sites. This must surely make Gozo one of the safest places to dive.”
Gozo is indeed widely regarded as a safe diving destination, enjoying an accident rate of less than one third the European average… although the decompression chamber has not yet helped the island’s reputation as an international dive haven. Quite the contrary: a diver who was rushed to the Gozo General Hospital on April 1 suffering from decompression sickness (DCS) had to be redirected to St Luke’s Hospital in Malta via helicopter, after it transpired that the decompression chamber was closed for patients.
Commenting on that particular case, a spokesperson for the Gozo Ministry admitted that there were difficulties concerning the training of staff to operate the unit. The spokesman stopped short of explaining these difficulties, but they are unlikely to concern a lack of volunteers. According to a Gozo-based dive instructor (who asked not to be named), the number of serious cases of decompression sickness never amounts to more than three a year. But to be functional, the hyperbaric chamber must be operated 24-7: this in turn means that the trained staff – once selected and sent abroad for training – will find themselves idle for more than 99 per cent of their time on duty… making a position at the Gozo decompression chamber one of the most-sought after in the local medical profession.
For the same reason, the dive instructor openly questioned the wisdom of installing a decompression chamber in Gozo in the first place, arguing that “statistically”, there was no need for it.
“It is true that a decompression chamber can save lives, especially in serious cases where every minute counts. But from our experience, the few serious cases we experience can easily be catered for by transferring the patient to Malta.”
Asked about the expense of flying patients to St Luke’s Hospital via helicopter, the instructor claimed that the new decompression chamber, if functional, would be more expensive in the long term. “The operational costs are high, because specially trained staff are required to operate the machine. And a decompression chamber has to be manned 24 hours a day, because accidents can happen at any time, and time is of the essence when they do occur.”
By this line of reasoning, the resulting expense of a fully-functional hyperbaric unit will be considerably greater than the occasional helicopter flight to Malta. But the advantage is that patients can be treated more quickly than at St Luke’s – which the same instructor admits can sometimes be a decisive factor in saving lives.
Until the chamber is fully operational, Gozo’s dive centres will have to rely on the traditional methods when it comes to treating cases of “the bends” – as decompression sickness is more commonly known. All dive centres in Malta and Gozo are required by law to keep supplies of oxygen at the ready in case of emergency. More serious cases can only be treated at St Luke’s Hospital… or at Mater Dei, where the first ward expected to open is precisely the hyperbaric unit.