The essence of the government's plans for healthcare in Malta, unveiled yesterday in Gozo, is that attracting private medical tourism to Malta will help fund the €200 million massive upgrading of healthcare in Malta leaving it completely free for Maltese citizens.

This agreement sees the healthcare system in Malta team up with Barts Medical School, one of the foremost centres of excellence in the world which will set up a teaching facility coupled with a research centre in Gozo, with eventually 300 students.

The government programme has six deliverables:

-         A completely new 450 bed fully-fledged hospital; in Gozo instead of the present run-down one.

-         A new health centre for Victoria

-         Karin Grech Hospital will be changed to a mixed use for geriatric and rehabilitation treatment centres

-         More development at Mater Dei Hospital

-         A completely new private hospital within St Luke's Hospital area; and

-         A new Nursery School at St Luke's.

This new enterprise is aimed to create 1200 new jobs in this medical cluster that will be formed, spread between Malta and Gozo.

The government spokespersons who gave me a presentation late on Tuesday described what they found in 2013.

They found a Mater Dei Hospital staffed with excellent professional persons and services but alongside they found an underdeveloped primary health care sector. Mater Dei was too small to cater for the entire country and, with the Oncology Centre still being built, it resembled a building site.

Other areas of healthcare were severely substandard especially the Gozo General Hospital as well as the rehab and physio at St Luke's housed in the basement.

There were (are) still huge problems at Mount Carmel Hospital.

From 2006 to 2011 there was a numerous clauses imposed at the Nursing School thus restricting the number of nurses on hand.

After migration to Mater Dei, St Luke's was abandoned.

The dermatology service at Paul Boffa Hospital was starved of investment.

The hospital service was plagued by lists of patients facing huge delays before operations.

And there was an endemic shortage of medicines.

The system needs 500 new hospital beds. Considering the Maltese population, the EU average would be 384 beds per 100,000 inhabitants but Malta's average was 299 in 2001 which decreased to 256 by 2012.

Apart from the huge investment in hospitals (about which, more later), the government is actively promoting a healthy lifestyle, focusing on a dietary policy, a diabetes policy, and schemes to encourage healthy eating and physical activity.

Primary healthcare is being strengthened with new health centres at Paola and Kirkop, a complete refurbishment of all town clinics, strengthening the family doctor system and a drastic decrease of out of stock medicines.

27 new beds have somehow been added to the Mater Dei stock.

The new oncology centre (Sir Anthony Mamo Centre) which will soon come on stream will add 92 beds and 21 couches to the Mater Dei stock.

More work will be undertaken at Mater Dei to increase the number of beds by 300 and thus avoid unseemly beds in corridors.

The new Gozo Hospital will have 300 beds and will be a fully-fledged hospital so that patients will not have to go to Malta to continue their treatment.

Also in Gozo there will be a 150-bed private hospital dedicated to medical tourism.

Karin Grech Hospital will be completely refurbished and turned into a geriatric hospital with 270 beds.

St Luke's will get a new rehabilitation unit with 80 beds while the physio and hydrotherapy centre will be fully upgraded.

Also due to be upgraded will be the dermatology centre which will have its own dedicated beds and outpatients area.

The St Luke's footprint will also see a new 250 private hospital built in the grounds.

The timeframe of all this should see some or many of the deliverables in place within the next three years.

The workers will remain employed by the government and enjoying their present collective agreement but the management will be by the private sector.

The call for international expressions of interest will be issued in a few days but there is considerable interest in the project already. The government spokespersons expressed optimism this interest can be translated into Private-Public Partnerships that will enable healthcare for the Maltese citizens to remain free.