The Nationalist Party today welcomed the patient charter drawn up by the government, but is proposing ways how to strengthen it.

In a statement issued by shadow minister Claudette Buttigieg, the PN says that the document did not speak of the legal aspects on how rights and obligations will be safeguarded.

The document does not offer any suggestions on how patients and health workers can remedy situations when their rights are breached.

Neither does it propose the setting up of an authority to receive complaints, the PN said.

The document implies that there should be public education on rights and obligations of patients and health workers but it does not specify who will be responsible for this.