Unions and the public administration should do their utmost to resolve disputes with "the least possible delay especially when patients are involved", the Health Commissioner has urged. He observed in a report that a dispute between the two sides resulted in Karen Grech Hospital having 200 beds vacant while Mater Dei Hospital "was bursting at the seams" in a time of crisis. In his notes for the annual Ombudsman's report, Health Commissioner Carmel Bezzina said it was not fair for unions to use patients "as a pawn in order to press for their demands". "Notwithstanding the negative approach taken by the union, the public administration should do its utmost to resolve disputes with the least possible delay especially when patients were involved," Bezzina said. The Commissioner found out about the 200 empty beds while investigating a complaint by a patient's husband who claimed his wife did not receive any treatment for a period of six weeks. This, he said, had seriously affected her rehabilitation. According to the complaint, the woman was taken to the Admission Ward at Karin Grech Hospital which, at the time was under quarantine because of COVID-19. The quarantine period...