Over the past week, the health sector has been very much in the limelight. In today’s issue, we publish two worrying stories. One tells of the enormous strain that doctors at Mater Dei’s Accident and Emergency Department are under.

The other tells us that cardiovascular diseases are the biggest killers in Malta. It all makes for quite depressing reading. The topic of health is also one which keeps cropping up in local politics. The opposition says it is in possession of a report which shows that the standard of health care - especially at Mater Dei – has gone downhill since this government took over the reins.

Let us cut to the chase and identify the problems. People are living longer, but that also means that people are hospitalised in their later years with a vast spectrum of ailments. Malta’s population is growing exponentially.

Our islands are getting more and more crowded. Investment in the health sector by the successive governments has always increased, but it is becoming abundantly clear that the system is not keeping up with demand.

This government has also had its fair share to deal with in this legislature, most notably the very distracting (and worrying) discovery of extremely sub-standard concrete being used in the construction of Mater Dei Hospital.

To tie in another story, cancer rates are creeping up, and that is no doubt due to our lifestyle. This compounds the cardiovascular issue and diabetes is becoming another very worrying problem.

Obesity is set to become the biggest killer by 2050, with some European states researching palliative care for those who are beyond hope. Caring for such people until they die requires additional equipment (an expense) as well as bed-space.

The writing is there on the wall. We are all getting more unhealthy with each generation. Our country is getting more over populated and we simply do not have the resources to keep up with what is unfolding by the day.

In the last 20 years, Malta has changed dramatically. Our population has been artificially swelled by migrants, both those who arrive by boat, as well as those who come to seek work from Europe and beyond. Malta is also growing exponentially in terms of birth rates and summer tourism adds to the strain. The government has two tasks. In the short term, it must alleviate the burden on Mater Dei in terms of staff numbers and in the medium term, bed space.

But the second task is important. It must convene all stakeholders in order to come up with a long-term strategy for medical care in Malta. New hospitals, specialised hospitals and various degrees of primary care must be planned for the future. Mater Dei was short of beds long before it was even completed, demographic changes from conception to fruition put paid to that. We must plan for more than our experts project.

Mater Dei was delivered to the Maltese people as a state of the art hospital. It was. But it is no longer, less than a decade after it was opened. This is no one’s fault. It is the passage of time and the ever accelerating pace of life and technological and medical advances. Mater Dei has been in management by crisis since the word go. It is time to subject the system to surgery. It is imperative that we project well into the future with this, lives depend on it.