Health in numbers

Summer is with us and so is Labour's attack on health. It has become customary at this time of the year that Labour, year in year out, launches a massive attack on health services. This year we have gone one further with Alfred Sant solemnly declaring he and his party will be targeting health in the coming weeks.

Both Dr Sant and his party know that various surveys confirm that the Maltese people are satisfied with the level of health services offered by the government. People know that our health services compare well with those in other countries and that the challenges we face in this sector are common to those faced by others abroad. Maltese people receiving health care abroad are among the first to admit that our health care services are, to say the least, at par with those offered beyond our shores.

Dr Sant and his media have the habit of picking up an issue or statistical figures and keep on hammering ad nauseam to drive their point home.

Here I am referring to figures about official waiting lists for operations at St Luke's Hospital published by the Health Division. Dr Sant, who is a self proclaimed PR expert, is flinging these figures on every occasion to undermine the health care services to try to score some political points. The Labour media soon jumped on his bandwagon and is parroting him all the time. As if waiting lists at our hospital are exclusively a Malta phenomenon!

Let me make one point clear. I am not denying that there exists a waiting list for certain operations mainly with regard to degenerative diseases. However, for fairness sake, especially towards the professionals who work in the health sector, we should also make public some interesting figures for every one to understand the great volume of daily medical activity going on at St Luke's. These figures are readily available to the media from yearly reports published by the Health Division. However these figures are never mentioned by the Labour media as it is not interested in positive statistics as these will chip away their credibility.

So let us pass on to some interesting figures.

Last year 57,169 new cases were seen at the Outpatients Department resulting in 152,451 follow-up appointments. A total of 110,332 called at the Emergency Department, of whom 19,693 were admitted to medical and surgical wards.

Last year St Luke's had 81,270 admissions, of which 55,722 were ward in-patients, 13,024 day cases and 12,525 dialysis sessions.

The mean length of stay for in-patients was 4.6 days. The average number of new ward admissions daily was 152.7.

Now let us come to operations' waiting lists which seem to be Dr Sant's measuring instrument. The number of surgical operations carried out last year amounted to 28,906. On the basis of preliminary analysis, the complexity of operations performed was classified as: 27.9 per cent complex major, major+ and major, 31.7 per cent intermediate and 40.5 per cent minor.

It is pertinent to point out that the number of operations is on the rise not withstanding facilities remain the same. In 1995, the number of operations stood at 22,007, in 2000 it rose to 24,809 and last year it hit 28,906, meaning a 31.4 per cent rise in the last 10 years.

Worth mentioning is the fact that until a few years ago certain patients were sent abroad for surgical intervention.

Today similar operations are done here by most able Maltese surgeons with very high success rate.

These figures have to be kept in mind when waiting lists are mentioned in order not to let Tom, Dick and Harry believe that medical professionals are sitting idle while waiting lists get longer.

One of the busiest units at St Luke's is the Radiology Department. Last year alone it performed 157,464 examinations, 6,000 more than in the previous year and 15,000 more than in 2000. The number of MRIs has rocketed from 1,364 in 2000 to a staggering 4,694 last year.

May we all remember that prior to 2000, MRIs where done in a private clinic to the tune of 300 a year. Before that only the most deserving 100 patients were sent yearly to England for MRI scanning.

During the last 10 years, CT scanning has gone up from 6,000 a year to 10,250 last year while ultrasound rose from 11,000 to 15,350. These are just a few figures that indicate what goes on in this department. The more available a service becomes the greater the demand.

Just a few days ago patients at the Radiology Department began making use of a new digital CT scanner which enhances a better image and a faster diagnosis. The scanning time is barely two minutes compared to the 20-30 minutes with the old scanner.

Thousands of patients will be benefiting from this state-of-the-art technology. However the Labour media completely ignored the event and did not mention a single word about this new service.

The Labour media is outrightly depriving its followers of information about their health. Now everyone can judge for oneself how genuine are the MLP's fuss and criticism about operations' waiting times.

I hope that with the help of the above figures everyone puts the waiting lists issue in the proper perspective.

The hospital's authorities have time and time again affirmed that there is absolutely no waiting time for urgent cases.

The government is doing its best to keep the present high quality level in health care services. It is really a pity that the opposition is always ready to make a political issue of any shortcomings in the health sector. The steep increase in the demand for the health care services is enough proof, if proof were needed, of the people's trust in the health services.

Mr Gambin is communications coordinator, Ministry of Health, the Elderly and Community Care.