PN MPs and shadow ministers Adrian Delia and Ian Vassallo on Friday sketched a number of glaring issues in the Maltese healthcare sector following what has been described as “fake news” given by the Minister for Health, Jo-Etienne Abela on Thursday.

Abela spoke of a “newly-opened ward” which, according to the Medical Association of Malta, was “fake news” because the area was opened in preparation for the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

Addressing the media, Delia said that the healthcare sector is “crumbling” and that Malta is in a national crisis regarding healthcare. He added that the government is “risking lives to fix its own problem”.

Delia said that despite the PN warning the government, months ago, that there was a crisis in the emergency department, in the last few days a tender was issued to subcontract certain services in the emergency department within 3 weeks. Whilst Delia said that it is not a bad thing to outsource to the private sector, he noted that the government first denies a problem, citing how Abela said that the PN was trying to alarm the people, before accepting it and proceeding to tackle it via management by crisis.

Delia said there has been no attempt at raising awareness amongst the public on what they should do if they require immediate care. Furthermore, he pointed out that the minister claims that a “wide consultation” was done regarding investments into the health sector but when stakeholders are asked if they were consulted, they responded that they didn’t know anything. 

Delia said that the day after the minister inaugurated a newly-built ward, with the capacity for 40 patients, the MAM said that it is fake news. He elaborated that the canteen-turned-ward was initially an example of management by crisis and has now been “blessed” with the title of an official ward, but ultimately no new ward had been opened. 

Delia pointed out how a plan to increase beds in Mater Dei through the shifting of administration services to a nearby building in Swatar (the former HSBC), has not gone down well with hospital staff. He said that they complained that such a move would require them to take an hour of their own time to reach the new administration building to do their work.

Delia said that the biggest slap in the face came when Minister Abela identified 2 main problems with healthcare: first, the increase in population by 25%, and secondly, that the population is living longer. Delia expressed outrage since he said the minister is implying that to solve problems in the healthcare sector, the public must live less.

Delia went on to point out other problems within the healthcare sector such sub-par and expired medication.

With regards to mental health, Delia questioned the Prime Minister’s recent statement that mental health is close to his heart and called his attention to the plans for a new mental hospital being scrapped and those patients still waiting for psychiatric care.

Delia noted the lack of healthcare professionals in health centres who were moved to local councils clinics which ineffective. He also said that the stories coming out of Gozo General Hospital would be expected from a third-world country.

On his part, Vassallo stressed that investment in the healthcare sector is not only required in immediate care but also in the labs and MRI’s amongst others. He said that the PN was pro-active regarding the problems with the healthcare sector and always believed that as the population grows, healthcare must grow with it. He added that the PN is not reinventing the wheel and has a track record in the healthcare sector which saw growth under its legislation such as the opening of new centres and the amendment of times.

Vassallo said that under Labour government this stopped, however, citing ex-Health Minister, Chris Fearne, who spoke much and “pompously” of the Vincent Moran Centre which was promised to be the “emergency of the South” but ended up being another regular healthcare centre.

Vassallo said that though Labour government once promised the home delivery of medication, currently, medication is not even arriving at pharmacies. Furthermore, he said that international reports have found that Malta invests the least in medication.

With regards to waiting lists, Vassallo said that the government is not investing seriously to tackle this problem. He added that the private healthcare sector is not money-minded but does care and should the government work hand in hand with it, it will receive the particular specialization of certain healthcare professionals such as diagnosticians.  That said, Vassallo pointed out how the government had recently cancelled a meeting with the private healthcare sector.