The government has set about reducing hospital waiting lists for MRI and CT scans by doing them at night and utilising the services of private hospitals.

The developments came to light last week after an exchange in parliament between parliamentary secretary for health Chris Fearne and opposition MP Claudio Grech.

In the exchange, Dr Fearne told parliament that the Health Sector was so far behind in conducting the tests that something needed to be done. And so, a plan was hatched to first scan those people who had been on the waiting list for two years, then those who have been on it for one year, then six months and three months until the backlog was cleared.

The plan involved utilising two different hospitals and their equipment, as well as making the process at Mater Dei and other government hospitals more efficient. One of those measures included offering the possibility of late evening or night appointments.

It seems that the measure has worked – or is in the process of working. Patients who are available are being given MRI and CT appointments at night, and barely a week after they are referred  for appointment.

They say there are no quick fixes for the health system, but if small individual strategies such as this one are put into place, then little by little, the situation will be improved.

However, the government must be careful to not over extend things and end up in a situation where there is too much micro management going on. At the end of the day, hospital waiting lists are one of the daily issues that affect people, and cutting them down to the bare minimum is an achievement in itself.

In December, the government appointed 10 consultants to help reduce the waiting lists at Mater Dei Hospital. In addition, increased use of the Government hospital MRI scanners – rather than overly relying on the private sector partnership – has brought costs down to €90 per scan compared to €200 when the private sector was over utilised.

There is no doubt that the Health sector has been a problem for successive governments. Since its inception, it has been a thorn in every health minister’s side. Slowly but surely, however, progress is being made. The health system is paid for by people’s taxes and therefore, people ought to expect a good service. But to make an analogy, we also pay taxes towards the road system, but still the results leave a lot to be desired.

The improvements, however small, have been noted. But there is still obviously quite a lot left to do. We are confident that if the government continues on the path it has embarked on, further positive results will be obtained.