Malta could help solve UK's long hospital queues

Malta is set to start marketing itself as a destination for health tourism.

A commercial has been shot for this purpose and will be aired in the US and the UK next month. Plans about the campaign are expected to be unveiled today.

Sahara Medical Tourism, an international company forming part of the Sahara Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, is behind the initiative. The company facilitates overseas surgery for patients from the UK , Europe and the USA and is now promoting Malta as a destination for medical tourism.

Sahara Medical has formed alliances with state-of-the-art hospitals, world-class surgeons and works with Surgery Worldwide Ltd of the UK to deliver the highest standard of quality medical treatment and patient care.

"More and more people from the UK are looking for surgery and treatment abroad and Malta has emerged as a wonderful option for these patients with its state-of-the-art hospitals and excellent hotel and tourist facilities on offer," the Sahara Group's Maria Agius said.

Ms Agius said the company was offering the services of a clinic in the very heart of the medical profession in Harley Street, London and those who may be considering travelling to Malta for their surgery could meet their surgeon there.

"By travelling from the UK for treatment, patients can take advantage of the considerable savings that can be made as rates for many surgeries are considerably lower in many parts of the EU," she said.

"The Malta Tourism Authority has taken this huge step of showing the UK and Europe that it is taking the health industry very seriously. It hopes that by being the very first country to openly advertise its health facilities, it may be just a matter of time before the National Health Service of the UK would consider Malta a serious option for its patients to travel for surgery rather than facing long waiting lists as they do at present," Ms Agius said.