The health sector needs to be centred around the patient, a draft plan published yesterday by the Labour Party says.
The plan, launched during a press conference by Labour leader Alfred Sant and health spokesman Michael Farrugia, underlines the Labour Party's belief that people's health is an important investment.
It says that if elected to government, Labour would seek help through international programmes to improve the quality of health and would suggest initiatives to lower the prevalence of certain diseases, like diabetes and heart conditions, while boosting preventive measures against complications.
Dr Sant said the plan will be discussed openly in the coming weeks and together with three other plans - on industry, education and Gozo development - it will be up for approval by the party's general conference in July.
He described the plan as a "realistic" one, saying the party was not promising "heaven on earth" at the wave of some magic wand. However, the plan aimed for "radical improvement" in the country's health sector to stop the crisis in quality from continuing to spread.
He mentioned the long waiting lists for operations and tests at public hospitals. Dr Farrugia said one of the things that was making the waiting lists longer was the fact that there were patients blocking beds while waiting for medical investigations to be carried out, something that was taking some time due to a shortage of medical staff.
Dr Sant said the increase in the price of medicines and the unavailability of some drugs was having a strong negative impact on the quality of life of families and the elderly.
Dr Farrugia said that although at the end of 2005 the government's debt with medicine importers stood at Lm10 million, some medicines were regularly out of stock and some were not even available for hospital in-patients. He said the registration process and tariffs had led to a shortage of medicines in the private sector, adding that there were many objections to the way the registration process was introduced.
Dr Sant said his party was not convinced there was a good management system that would handle the enormous challenges and problems that will arise when Mater Dei Hospital starts operating.
Asked how the MLP would tackle the problem of overcrowding, Dr Sant said many problems had been created because of disorganisation and bad management.
With regard to the problems brought about by the country's aging population, Dr Sant said that in the past 20 years the average age of females had increased by nine years and that of males by seven years.
There were not enough beds in homes for the elderly. While St Vincent de Paul was already "enormous", part of St Luke's Hospital could be converted to accommodate elderly patients, he suggested.
Both Dr Sant and Dr Farrugia mentioned the lack of coordination between public hospitals and private GPs. Dr Sant said a procedure through which a private doctor was given a full account when a patient was discharged from hospital was no longer being adhered to, leading to an increase in bureaucracy and certain diagnoses not being followed up immediately.
Dr Sant had words of praise for the medical and paramedical personnel, which always gave a professional and caring service. The public was conscious of the need to adopt measures that would safeguard health, while the education system had the potential to help in instilling awareness of the importance of preventive medicine.
On the other hand, the government's financial situation was undermining these good aspects, Dr Sant said, accusing the government of burdening the people with its financial woes.
Both politicians mentioned the importance of serious auditing within the public health system.
Some of the proposals
The draft document on health launched yesterday by the Labour Party outlines a number of issues.
¤ A task force made up of officials from the Health Ministry, the Health Division and workers' representatives would evaluate all hospital work practices over a three-month period.
¤ During the migration from St Luke's Hospital to Mater Dei, vacant posts at St Luke's should be used for patients who need rehabilitation.
¤ The report says social cases should not be moved to Mount Carmel Hospital, but an adequate place should be found for them at St Luke's Hospital until there is the necessary infrastructure at St Vincent de Paul Residence and within the community.
¤ A system should be put in place so that patients do not wait for more than a month for an out-patient appointment. An electronic patient record could be created, and health centre doctors can have access to patients' records. An advanced system could also allow access to a patient's record by his private GP.
¤ Health centres should collaborate with local councils to carry out scientific research on health threats in the community and create an action plan.
¤ The document mentions a revision of the way and the rate at which elderly people have been taxed since 1998.
Facts and figures
¤ The MLP report says in Malta there are about 500 hospital beds for 100,000 people. The average in the 15 countries that made up the European Union before the 2004 accession was 611 beds for every 100,000 citizens.
¤ The number per capita of health professionals in the EU15 is 50 per cent more than that in Malta, the report says.
¤ Compared to the EU15, Malta has a high rate of mortality related to heart problems. In 2003 the deaths per 100,000 Maltese stood at 149.77 compared to 90.19 in the EU15.
¤ Five Maltese out of every 100,000 commit suicide, half the number in the EU15.
¤ A lower rate of deaths by traffic accidents is registered locally, with four people for every 100,000 losing their lives in traffic accidents as opposed to 10 people for every 100,000 in Europe.