Thursday, 17th July 2008

One third of Maltese have EU health card

Ivan Camilleri, Brussels

The EU yesterday called for more of its citizens to acquire and make use of the European Health Insurance Card (EICH), which facilitates free medical care for all citizens while visiting one of the other 31 European countries participating in the initiative.

According to EU officials, despite being a free service, only 30 per cent of the Maltese population have taken the opportunity to register with the Maltese health authorities and acquire the card. Other member states registered higher participation in the scheme with some countries having almost all of their population in possession of the card.

The European Commission said that four years after its launch, a total of 173 million people already have the card.

Citizens from 31 European countries can use the card to get the medical care they need if they fall ill or have an accident in one of the participating countries, which includes all the 27 EU member states together with Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland and Switzerland.

The EHIC simplifies procedures and cuts red tape for citizens when misfortune strikes during a temporary stay abroad.

Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimír Spidla said the card brings peace of mind to millions of Europeans when travelling abroad, whether on holiday, work or studying in another European country.

Although individual member states are responsible for the distribution of the EHIC and issue it in their national language, the card shares a common design in order to be easily recognisable by medical staff, even if they do not speak the same language.

Through the EHIC, a patient is entitled to the same medical treatment as a local patient while the cost of the treatment will be completely or partly met by his or her sickness insurance scheme. However, the EHIC can only be used in the framework of public health care provision and does not replace supplementary travel insurances.

Maltese citizens can apply and obtain a card from the Entitlement Unit at the Health Ministry in Valletta, tel. 2299 2345 or 2299 2502.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Sunday, November 22, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

Denis Catania (on 18/7/08)

It's not fair Maltese citizens abroad are always treated as second class Maltese citizens. Do you notice they let us put money in thier banks. I can't even speak to a Maltese in our embassy in NY. I have to speak to an asian, who gives a dam about Malta or it's problem. I just talked to this Asian, She didn't even know thier was such a thing(health card) They don't even put a Maltese on the phone. Last week I had to go and demand to speak to a Maltese. Due to National and world security I refused to hand my Maltese passport to an non Maltese.We need to hire Maltese born man or woman or Maltese descent who speaks Maltese.

L-Dimech (on 17/7/08)

No not all maltese citizens are entitiled for the EU health card. The Malta Government excludes Maltese citizens that are not residents of Malta from acquiring this haealth card. It appears that we have various levels of citizenship. Not all citizens are equal.