The reasoning behind the shutting down of Mount Carmel Hospital was described in parliament on Monday by Minister for Health Jo-Etienne Abela as a robust measure to address stigma.

“There is no frontier between physical and mental health, so we took a decision,” Abela said and explained that the stigma faced by mentally unwell patients cannot be solved “by talk, rather naturally and simply” through the desegregation of healthcare facilities. He stressed that the specialists do not want a separate hospital and that is why the Mental Health Services are set to shut down Mount Carmel within 3 years adding that “this is a revolution in our medical history.”

Abela said that with an aging population, Malta needs a robust system of prevention or mitigation of risk through primary healthcare such as GPs and a “hospital at home.” He said that “the time of hospitals is over, now we speak of the democratization of health.”

Abela acknowledged that “workers don’t grow on trees” and from nurses to specialists, they are hard to find. He said that his ministry “won’t take you for a ride” since functional clinic needs workers, however he said that there was a decrease in nurse deficit with more workers set for Gozo, so much so that a tender is set to be issued for relocation to Gozo.

Abela said that in order to give more autonomy to the polyclinics, investments were made in modern ECG machines that will have the ability to directly communicate with a cardiologist as well as in Point of Care blood tests. He said that though they aim to reduce the number of polyclinics to 5, 70 doctors are still required and for that reason they welcome workers from the private sector as well as retired doctors.

With regards to public health, Abela said that whilst larger countries have 5 immunization centres, Malta has 10 and following this year’s introduction of the pneumococcal vaccine for the elderly, the RSV vaccine is set to come in next year. Furthermore, a wide variety of diagnostic tests are set to increase, with a consultation document on sexual health set to be launched by the end of the year. He stressed the importance of Malta’s free IVF service and pointed out that the country’s success rate of 66.7% exceeds that of other countries with 99 babies currently on the way.

To tackle waiting times, Abela said that MRI scans are set to increase by 31,000 and 90 new ECG machines have been purchased. With regards to medication shortage, he said that whilst digitization is being used to tackle the problem in light of Brexit, the POYC’s CEO specialisation in medication is a management strategy to help the problem.

On the topic of cancer, there is going to be increased screening for lung, prostate, and breast cancer, with the acquisition of new mammogram machines, Abela said. He pointed out that though the Opposition leader makes it sound as though the government “makes cancer patients beg” to the Malta Community Chest Fund (MCCF), it has received an increase in funding. Furthermore, he announced that talks are underway to pass the MCCF from the presidency to the Ministry for Health.

Abela pointed out that the Opposition is not correct in saying that less funds are going towards Gozo since €6 million was spent on ex-Steward workers with more millions spent on endoscopy equipment and new cancer medication. He said that Gozo has the best MRI machine in the country with a newly installed portable CT scanner set to be ready for use by next week until a new CT scanner is installed next year.

With regards to the emergency department, Abela noted that the Opposition was “being dishonest” in saying that it deteriorated recently since a past report by the Ombudsman, which he tabled, called the emergency department a “sick patient” on the inauguration of Mater Dei.

In response to criticisms on the new Stroke Ward, Abela said M6 is truly a ward with a specialized team and it is “not the building that makes the ward”, furthermore, M10, which used to be the old staff canteen, has been duly renovated through an investment of €1.4 million with further funds used on equipment. Finally, he pointed out that the contractor in charge of Paola Hub consecutively asked for €7 million, €14 million and €24 million within 2 weeks and for that reason they terminated the contract, opening the doors for smaller contractors, yet still making use of the premises with its MRI which he announced is to start scanning this week.

In conclusion Abela said, “We are not perfect, but we don’t fool around when it comes to work and I stand as witness for my colleagues in healthcare in service of the public.” Adding that the opposition can either embrace change or undermine it. 

A new Gozo General Hospital has already been paid for by the taxpayers ‘in its entirety’ – Delia

Shadow Minister for Health Adrian Delia opened his response by stressing the “direct and human effect” of the budgetary measures. He said that the many patient anecdotes are “symptomatic of a period of healthcare services that are not provided.”

Delia said that in the last few months of himself as shadow minister for health, various stories keep on “accentuating the issues” with Maltese healthcare. He went on to give the examples of the issues that arose within a matter of weeks such as the Cyclotron – which he said is “directly tied to Vitals scandal”, full up beds and the outsourcing emergency healthcare amongst others.

Delia went on to cite various newspapers’ editorials on the issues in healthcare, including a number by The Malta Independent and pointed out that, despite the widespread reportage of the people’s suffering with regards to healthcare, on the 4th of August the Abela said “We are not managing by crisis”. He remarked that it appears that all these problems “do not exist in [Abela’s] world”.

Delia noted that Abela had called the anecdotes fake news but pointed out that the Medical Association of Malta (MAM) had revealed Abela’s own fake news with his inauguration of an apparently new 40-bedded ward that had previously been Mater Dei’s staff canteen. He pointed out that this ward apparently cost €1.4 million to provide 40 beds and went on to sketch out how the €18 million lost to Vitals, with €6 million going to Ram Tumuluri, to its expenses and to undermine its opponents, respectively, 480 beds could have been provided.

In the same vein, Delia said that a new Gozo General Hospital (GGH) has already been paid for by the taxpayers “in its entirety” since it was one of Vitals’ promises. He spoke of how Abela had said that they will proceed, following years of waiting, with the Gozo General Hospital and will finish the first phase in the first quarter of 2025.

However, Delia questioned how many phases there would be, particularly since no plans exist for the new hospital nor “indications of tendering.” He went on to ask for more information on GGH to start a discussion for the sake of the Gozitans who had been paying for GGH for years. 

Finally, Delia said that mental health issues have been on the rise in the last 17 years and cited a POYC statistic demonstrating the rise of dementia patients. He added that with 1 in 4 people likely to develop mental health issues currently, “we are at pandemic level”.

Delia said that despite 10 apparently prosperous years with “one surplus after another” the situation is “precarious”. He went on to point out that though Abela had nothing to do with the Vitals scandal, he refuses to speak about it and won’t accept collective responsibility.  

Delia concluded in saying that though €400 million is needed “like bread” by the public healthcare sector, the state advocate was not authorised to take it back. Ultimately, he said “the same government that created this problem, cannot solve it.”