Consultants' tariffs shooting up without any form of control

Prof J.A. Muscat hit the nail on the head when he suggested the need to amend the constitution to allow for lay representation on the Medical Council, thus making it more representative and democratic.

We tend to agree fully with this proposal, because as far back as September 13, 1999 we suggested that the Medical Council should include laymen and retired members of the medical profession.

According to the constitution, the Medical Council is a regulatory body and it need not be composed solely of medical people, with the exception of the president.

Medical people are very good at their profession but they may not be the best administrators or regulators.

Furthermore, one has to realise that, as at present, members of the Medical Council are the colleagues of the other members of the medical profession.

When one looks at the Medical Council as it is composed today, one tends to think that this council is there to look after the interests of the medical profession rather than of those who may think of complaining against any member of this profession.

This is even more so when one gets to know that some members of the Medical Council are elected by their peers. So, how can the public have confidence in such an institution whose method of reasoning is very legalistic and maybe not humane at all.

We have come across cases where the Medical Council decided not to proceed against members of the medical profession without even hearing what the complainants had to say, this when even written reports, supported by affidavits, were made.

What has been written these last few weeks indicates that the Medical Council is a passive institution and not a proactive one. It never takes the initiative to regulate or to put forward some regulatory suggestions which may be beneficial to doctor-patient relations.

The case of the British woman tourist, Pamela Grace Page, is definitely not the only one where overcharging is suspected to have taken place. Maybe the fact that Ms Page had the courage to expose what she has passed through set the ball rolling for something to be done in the right direction.

We would like to associate ourselves with the chairman of a leading local insurance firm in the warning against the escalating costs of medical treatment in this country and we go a step further by warning against the exaggerated fees by some medical consultants. These may be counter productive in the not too far distant future.

Our company has been in the medical insurance business for 15 years and during this time we have seen medical consultants' tariffs shooting up, without any form of control from any competent authority

Of the same opinion is the chairman of the local Bioethics Consultative Committee who was quoted as describing the fees charged by Maltese doctors as a "free for all" and as saying that many charged what they thought they could get away with.

All the correspondence and all the write-ups that appeared on this subject indicated that almost everyone is against abuses. So why not try to make a concerted effort to try to eradicate all forms of abuse, at least in the medical field.

Mr Dalli is manager medical insurance department, Laferla Insurance Agency Ltd.