The Government used healthcare as an electoral slogan but then forgot about it when governing the country, placing ever heavier burdens on Maltese and Gozitan people, the Nationalist Party said Monday.
The report State of Health in the EU: Malta - Country Health Profile 2025, published last December, shows that Maltese people are the second-highest spenders on medicines in Europe.
This report states that Maltese people are spending an average of €650 each per year out of their own pockets. Only Germans spend more than we do, the PN said.
The difference is that the average wage in Germany is around €5,300, while in Malta it is €2,500, and the average pension in Germany is €1,600 per month, whereas in Malta it is €1,200.
The large number of medicines that are out-of-stock from the formulary means that many people, including numerous elderly persons, pensioners and vulnerable individuals, are being forced to fork out hundreds of euros from their own pockets for the medicines they need.
This is in addition to increases in medicine prices resulting from new measures and tariffs introduced hastily by the Government, which were not mentioned anywhere in the "tax-free budget" presented by Robert Abela's Government three months ago.
Unlike other matters, these increases were introduced quietly, without fanfare or press conferences.
While in recent days there has been discussion about price increases for items far less essential than healthcare, the increases - in some cases of 50%, 100% and even 230% in the price of medicines - were barely mentioned. Yet today, it is patients and the most vulnerable who are paying the price, the PN said.
The Labour Party, which had sworn that from government it would eliminate out-of-stock medicines and which at every opportunity spoke about medicine prices, is today leaving patients to fend for themselves.
This was the case with HIV prevention medicine, PrEP, which is currently not available in Malta, not even against payment. The Government not only failed to honour its promise to introduce PrEP free of charge, but also allowed stocks to expire without replacement, leaving those who need this medicine with nothing. Yesterday, Robert Abela finally woke up and, following criticism that stocks of this HIV prevention pill had expired, announced that by the end of the month he will begin implementing this promise, which was in Labour's electoral manifesto four years ago.
Today, thousands of people are facing out-of-stock medicines and are forced to buy them out of their own pockets at much higher prices. Robert Abela's Government has lost all credibility on healthcare, the PN said.