Government 'should be clear about health reform plans'

OPPOSITION health spokesman Michael Farrugia said yesterday that whereas the minister of health on Friday denied that the government had given the EU a commitment to reform the health service to reduce costs, the "Report from the Commission" dated May 12 said that: "...in the November 2003 budget the government programmed a decline in the deficit of around 1 percentage point of GDP for the same period. The thrust of this strategy is, on the one side, a strong commitment to combat tax evasion and, on the other, the structured review of expenditure; the reform of the pension system and the health care service are expected to start within this horizon."

Dr Farrugia recalled that it had been the minister, Dr Louis Deguara, who had announced that diabetes patients having the pink card would no longer be entitled to all free medicines and would be subject to a means test. He had also insisted on means testing in the case of medicines for chronic illnesses so that not all yellow card holders would continue to be entitled to free medicines.

It was also Dr Deguara who had declared that the Gzira and Floriana health centres would be closed for part of the day and on weekends.

In the budget speech, the finance minister said payment should be introduced for certain health services and he had also announced plans for new health insurance.

The government, Dr Farrugia said, needed to be clear and forthcoming about its plans.