Labour is proposing to cut waiting lists for operations at hospital by 15 per cent every year, party leader Dr Alfred Sant said yesterday.

He was speaking to a delegation of students from the Malta Medical Students Association and the Malta Association of Dental Students.

The MLP’s draft plan for the health sector was the main topic discussed.

Dr Sant said the party believed that each clinical director had the responsibility to established benchmarks on the acceptable times that patients should wait for their operations.

He said the party was proposing a specific budget that would be used to achieve this aim.

The Labour Party quoted Jonathan Cutajar from the Medical Students Association as saying that the meeting with the party’s officials was one of the few occasions when they were consulted.

Mr Cutajar said the associations agreed with most of the proposals, however they would have expected more detail on certain matters.