It is no secret that the most important thing in life is one’s health. All the rest is immaterial if one is not healthy.

Over the years, successive governments have dedicated time and money to improve and expand public health services, and Malta has always been praised for the facilities and services it provides in the sector, even when these were offered from the now defunct St Luke’s Hospital.

The largest ever investment made in the sector was the building of the Mater Dei Hospital in Tal-Qroqq, a complex that took much longer than it should to be completed and cost much more than originally expected – but, at the end of the day, Malta can boast of having a state-of-the-art hospital capable of catering for the needs of the population.

The controversy over the Mater Dei costs and delays are now a thing of the past; it was not even an election issue anymore, although health matters did form part of the campaign as the government had to insist that services will continue to remain free of charge after the opposition published documents that a suggestion had been made for people to start paying for health services provided.

Lawrence Gonzi ultimately had to pledge that as long as he would occupy the post of prime minister, health services would remain free of charge, and this managed to calm the waters.

Of course, the completion of the transfer from St Luke’s Hospital to Mater Dei Hospital does not mean that we can rest on our laurels and that everything is in perfect working order. A hospital is not made up of the building on its own, but it is effective just as much as the people working in it are efficient.

In this sense, there is still more that can be done to make Mater Dei Hospital more user-friendly. We have no doubt that most of the staff working there are dedicated to their job or, better still, their mission, because work in a hospital, whatever it is, is not an easy matter. These workers daily, for long hours too, come face to face with people in difficulty and who are passing from one of the worst moments in their life – and they must do their work with a smile and a word of encouragement. It is not like any other job.

Still, the way the hospital functions can be improved to lessen the physical and psychological pain of the people who need services from there. For one thing, the government should be working hard to reduce the delays in the carrying out of non-emergency surgery. The Malta Labour Party had, in its electoral manifesto, promised to reduce the waiting lists by 15 per cent. The government should make this pledge as its own and do its best to see that it happens.

Secondly, the new minister responsible for health, John Dalli, together with parliamentary secretary Joe Cassar, should make it their task to change some of the practices that give the hospital a bad name. Why should, for example, appointments continue to be given all at the same time? Why should 20-25 people be asked to go to hospital for an appointment at 7.30am or 8am, when it is humanly impossible for them to be seen all at one go by the same consultant? Wouldn’t it be better if the appointments are staggered all through the morning to reduce the waiting time?

These little things make a difference for the people involved. With some political intervention, administrative changes and the willingness of the service-providers, it should not be too difficult to review the whole set-up and make the system more well-organised.