In 2024, Mater Dei Hospital (MDH) received 104,886 patient admissions, Parliament has been informed. This meant that for the first time, the total number of admissions into the national hospital surpassed 100,000 in a full calendar year.
During Mater Dei's first full operational year in 2008, the national hospital recorded a total of 66,742 admissions. The number of admissions has nearly doubled in the past 20 years; in 2005, when St Luke's Hospital was still in operation, 58,290 admissions were recorded.
Malta's population continues to rise, and if one takes into account the tourist population also then the amount of hospital admissions comes as no surprise.
In March the National Statistics Office Malta (NSO Malta) said that Malta's effective population, including tourists, peaked at over 628,000 people in 2023.
This all points to the need to plan ahead for the future. Looking forward, the government must ensure that Malta's medical infrastructure will be able to cope in the years to come as population numbers continue to rise. The eventual opening of the Paola Health Hub should help, but more is needed.
The government has spoken of plans to increase hospital infrastructure. As an example, last year and this year the Health Minister, Jo-Etienne Abela, announced the initiation of the first phase of the development and regeneration project of the Gozo General Hospital, expansion of emergency wards at Mater Dei Hospital, and also plans to refurbish St Luke's Hospital in a way that can take some pressure of Mater Dei.
This is all good, but it would have been better had these plans been set into motion years ago. This further shows the impact of the now defunct hospitals deal, which was meant to include healthcare infrastructure investment, and the effect that deals not signed for the benefit of the public can have. So much time was wasted and money was thrown down the drain thanks to that deal. Efforts to get back the €400 million taken through the deal must be successful.
There has also been a focus on primary care over the years as a way to ease the burden off Mater Dei Hospital also. More efforts in this area, in addition to more primary care infrastructure, might also be something worth considering.
One hopes that the government has carried out enough thorough studies to know exactly what kind of health infrastructure the country will need 15-20 years down the line for the projected population the country would have at that time. If not, then people in the future will encounter longer waiting times and care standards would risk slipping.
Regarding overpopulation, the government has been taking measures to limit the amount of foreign workers in certain sectors, but at the same time one must point out that getting the population numbers under control will be far more complex than that. It requires shifting the economy to less human resource intensive sectors, and doing so will take time.
Free healthcare is corner stone of Malta's social benefits, and ensuring that the health service remains top notch must be a priority for any governments, regardless of who is in power.