Suppose Brexit had not turned out to be the worst living nightmare in recent European political history. Suppose the Panama Papers scandal had not erupted at all. Do you have any doubt what we would be talking about in Malta?

We would be scandalised by what is happening in the area of State-provided health care. And, even with Brexit and the Panama Papers clamouring for attention, we should be paying close attention to what’s going on in health.

In the most utterly scandalous way, three of our hospitals have landed in the lap of a very obscure financial venture which is far from transparent.

The lead group has no track record in health. In fact, it seems to have no traceable record worth mentioning at all. To top it all, our health minister is refusing to publish the details of the agreements signed at the peak of the Panama Papers scandal.

May I remind you that it is not this Minister but his predecessor – Konrad Mizzi, up to his neck in the Panama Papers scandal – who was the original minister behind the scheme to give away our three hospitals.

Now we have a further unwelcome surprise. The agreement, which is for an initial 30-year deal, can be extended to 99 years should the “investor” wish to do so.

Minister Fearne is denying this. At the same time he owns up to it when he says that it applies to St Luke’s Hospital only.

He says it as though we should therefore have no objection. Well, quite obviously we do.

Of course, if the government really wants to set our minds at rest there is a very simple way to clear up the matter. It should publish the agreements now, immediately, and not wait till November.

 

A health challenge for any government

So, back to the real health issues that other, more normal and transparent societies are talking about.

Many countries are doing their utmost to embrace the challenges which our societies are facing. Critical demographic changes, for instance, are constantly affecting our healthcare systems. We have an aging population where many patients are vulnerable to multiple health conditions, with a huge effect on the quality of life.

The mobility of people from and to our country also has its toll on health conditions, particularly diseases, which makes them more difficult to contain and control.  

Each country has its own particular profile when it comes to the monitoring, treatment and cure of diseases. Malta has, like all other countries, its own susceptibilities. As the EU Health Commissioner said last week while visiting our country, “Good health must be promoted and protected.”

In its recent report on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the European Union region, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has, once again, shed light on this hugely growing concern in Europe and around the world. AMR threatens the effective prevention and treatment of many diseases. The public in general needs to be more aware of the dangers that patients face, daily, through the overuse of antibiotics.

The ECDC report, which covers the year 2014, proves that decisions taken by previous governments, and by this one, to educate about the misuse of antibiotics (in all forms) has been effective in reducing AMR in Malta. But much more needs to be done.

While we are the country with the highest reduction in the misuse of antibiotics, we still overuse them at high rates. This has a huge effect on several conditions already present prominently in our country. It also has an effect on other conditions, lurking quietly but dangerously, like tuberculosis (TB).

In November 2015, the Bali declaration on “A looming TB-Diabetes co-epidemic” reiterated that “TB is the leading cause of death worldwide due to a single infectious pathogen, responsible for 1.5million human deaths in 2014.” It also stated that “people with diabetes are two-to-three times more likely to develop TB when compared to people without diabetes.”

This should be a good enough reason for Malta to push harder in this direction. The news that Malta is targeting to publish an antimicrobial resistance action plan, by the end of this year, is definitely good news. Let’s all hope that everything goes as planned.