Call for legal framework to cover new medical practices

Nationalist MP Michael Asciak has called for a modern legal framework to cater for new medical practices which could threaten established values on human life and respect for family life.

Speaking during the budget debate on the Ministry of Health, he said there were problems regarding the value of human life - at the start of life and towards the end of it. The threats at the beginning of life included ante-natal genetic testing which gave parents precise genetic information and put pressure on parents to abort the foetus.

Another threat to life was stem cell research, particularly embryonic. Such processes destroyed the embryo and therefore could not be accepted.

Other threats were therapeutic and reproductive cloning.

Problems at the end of life included euthanasia and "living wills" or "advanced directives" which directed doctors how to act in case the patient fell into a coma or a persistent vegetative state. Patients were sometimes asking to be allowed to die by withdrawal of care in exceptional situations.

Dr Asciak said the government should ensure that any IVF legislation respected the institution of marriage. One should seriously consider not having donor sperm techniques and only allow IVF between married couples. Adrian Vassallo (MLP) said the government had promised last year that revenue from the increase in VAT would go into a health fund. But the fund had not materialised.

He said too many patients at St Luke's were having to be accommodated in ward corridors, with no privacy. With St Luke's having 800 beds, what would the situation be once services were transferred to the 600-bed Mater Dei Hospital? Maybe Mater Dei should be renamed Santa Rita (patron saint for impossible causes), because only a miracle could see it really cater for the needs of the people.

Matters could get even worse if the anticipated pandemic flu ever hit Malta.

He said that while very urgent operations were taken in hand, the waiting list for operations had grown too long. Patients needing operations like hip replacement had been bedridden for four and five years.

Service at the Outpatients Department also left a lot to be desired. An appointment requested today with the Renal Unit was given for July or August 2006, and this when renal complications could be life-threatening.

At least it was encouraging to note that the number of doctors at the emergency department would be increased in the coming months.

The situation was also far from rosy in primary health care, with a biting shortage of doctors and restricted opening times. The fact that most doctors did not accept to visit patients at night did not help either.

Dr Vassallo said the medicine registration system introduced after Malta's accession to the EU meant that about 6,000 kinds of medicines that used to be available at pharmacies had been reduced to 2,000. Prices kept changing from one consignment to another, with the people being none the wiser about the real reasons for the escalation in prices.

Nationalist MP Joe Cassar said this budget was giving Mount Carmel Hospital the substantial sum of Lm6.3 million. This government, he said, was working for mental health issues not to be considered taboo any longer.

Mount Carmel Hospital now had a new management system and enjoyed a certain autonomy. The psychiatric outpatients unit had been refurbished adding to the dignity of patients.

The female ward one was to be substantially refurbished and a budget of Lm110,000 was being allocated for the purpose.

Another recent development was the opening of the Forensic Unit at the former Ward 10. The unit was state of the art and included 13 high security beds for prisoners or people who were under arrest.

A lot of work was also done at community level. Next year, together with Suriet il-Bniedem and the Richmond Foundation, community hostels were to be set up.

At the Cospicua Health Centre a psychiatric doctor was holding a psychiatric clinic. The government would also be spending Lm65,000 on the primary team of the Qormi Health Centre. The team included a social worker and an occupational therapist who went to patients' homes in a pilot project covering Qormi, Siggiewi and Zebbug.

Other speakers in this debate were reported yesterday.