The Business Breakfast held by our sister paper The Malta Business Weekly at the Hilton on Thursday on the subject of the sustainability of the health system proved to be a smooth broad discussion on the matters pertaining to the health sector for once devoid of the controversies that seem to surround any such discussion in our country.

There was broad agreement among the participants that the direction the sector should be heading for is the creation of a health system of excellence which can attract foreign persons to undergo their cure in Malta.

Medical tourism is thus a key factor in discussing the health system of the future. It is the key to keeping our national health system free for all Maltese nationals, a key commitment by both political parties.

Let us leave for now discussion on how this can be achieved.

Assuming we get the hospitals in Malta and Gozo to be state-of-the-art, we then need to market the opportunity. The visa scandal with regards to potential Libyan patients shows how easy it was for visa issuing to become embroiled in a scandal of untold proportions.

It is clear that our potential patients can only come from outside the EU, since EU patients get treatment for free which is then paid for by their governments.

Assuming then we get the medical facilities in Malta and Gozo upgraded to offer top class medical service we must staff them with top-notch surgeons, doctors, nurses, etc.

This is a tall order as we can see from the daily battle at Mater Dei Hospital to iron out any hitches and to keep things running smoothly. Even here, success is not always guaranteed.

Hence the need for financing, heavy financing. Hence the introduction of Vitals Healthcare and its satellites chosen by government without a call for expression of interest.

The questions regarding VGH et al are all very material but somehow they were completely elided at the business breakfast. Maybe because the persons who jumpstarted the deal were not in the room. The issue is nevertheless crucial.

This reminds one of the question many times raised when the Air Malta deal with Alitalia is mentioned: was this deal necessary? Could not the deal have been done with Maltese nationals? Why with this preferred bidder and nobody else?

If we needed (we do) the overhaul of let’s say the Gozo Hospital, could not that be done by Maltese funds, by the State and, if not, by the private sector in collaboration?

The same goes for St Luke’s Hospital, whose structure is still very valid, provided a thorough overhaul is carried out. And also for Karin Grech Hospital, which has less years than St Luke’s but which still needs an overhaul and a proper designation.

It was clear at the business breakfast that all sectors involved want to provide the public of Malta with a first class health system. There would obviously be, inter-department issues that need to be tackled and unraveled, the bane of any health minister.

But huge steps have been taken, including by this administration, and sensible improvements have been registered: the times spent at Emergency have been shortened, the problem of unavailable pills has been tackled with a verve, operations are being carried out almost round the clock, including on weekends.

As we can say about Air Malta, with such improvements having been made, why did someone feel the need to get a foreign body in?