More than 58,000 operations were performed in 2015 at Mater Dei and also at private hospitals in agreement with the health authorities, Health Minister Chris Fearne said this evening.

Replying to a parliamentary question by PL MP Anthony Agius Decelis, Mr Fearne said the number had risen from just over 47,000 in 2013.

Asked about operations performed on Sundays,Mr Fearne said the government had found long waiting lists for operations, minor interventions, including radiological, and outpatients appointments.

In the imaging department equipment is being used more efficiently, raising the number of MRIs performed yearly from 6,000 to 20,000. A new CT scanner is being installed at Mater Dei. The number of CT scans had already increased from 21,000 to 31,000 last year.

The Outpatients Department remains the biggest challenge, Mr Fearne said. In some clinics waiting time is longer than 12 months. “We are working with the stakeholders so that clinics are used more efficiently, including in the afternoons and evenings and weekends.” Mr Fearne said he hoped that the new practices would be in place by the end of the year.

Surgeries are being performed in the evenings, until 8pm, and waiting times have gone down considerably, he said. Routine operations are also being performed on Sundays.

The hospital’s medical professionals were asked if they would like to work on Sundays, since they cannot be forced to do so. “There was a very good response, with 113 professionals agreeing to work on Sundays. Encouraged by the positive results, more people have agreed to work on Sundays, and the number currently stands at 189.”

In reply to another PQ, Mr Fearne said there were 128,747 Accident and Emergency Department visits in 2015. The number of A&E visits in 2013 was 115,706 and the number of visits in 2014 was 119,941.

Mr Fearne also said that there were just short of 1.5 million patient visits at the eight Health Centres – Floriana, Gzira, Qormi, Paola, Cospicua, Mosta, Rabat and Birkirkara – in 2015. The number of patient visits in 2013 was 1.39 million and in 2014 it was 1.45 million.