Opening more health centres at night does not, in itself, address the pressures facing Malta's healthcare system, the Medical Association of Malta said Thursday.

Replying to Momentum, MAM said there is currently no evidence of significant waiting times in health centres during the night. More importantly, we do not presently have the necessary senior manpower to safely staff and operate the health centres we already have, let alone open additional centres on a 24/7 basis.

Simply spreading an already stretched primary-care workforce across more locations risks weakening the services we currently provide rather than strengthening them, MAM said.

Primary care is also not a substitute for hospital care. If more hospital resources are required, opening additional health centres at night will not resolve that problem, it adcded.

The investment in primary care needs to happen much earlier in the healthcare journey - through prevention, health promotion, screening and effective chronic disease management - so that fewer people reach a level of ill-health that ultimately requires hospital treatment.

Primary care also needs greater continuity and an appointment-based service, where doctors can follow individual patients over time and take responsibility for their ongoing care. A system based predominantly on walk-ins, where patients may see a different doctor each time, makes continuity and effective long-term management much more difficult, MAM said.

If we genuinely want to reduce pressure on hospitals and improve doctors' working conditions, we need to strengthen the whole healthcare pathway rather than simply moving an already insufficient workforce around the system, it concluded.