Editorial

It is all very well to have a state-of-the-art general hospital, as we now have, and to aim at having a first-class service to cater for all medical needs, and to have available the best and latest drug treatment on the market. The problem is how to finance the running of the hospital and the other health services run by the state. Add to this the financing of the other social services and the problem multiplies. It particularly projects itself into sharper focus at times of economic difficulties or of a situation where the government has to step in, as it is doing now, to stimulate the economy as the recessionary trends in Europe and elsewhere start having an effect on the economy.

When Queen Elizabeth recently visited the London School of Economics, one of the first questions she put after academics explained to her the origins and effects of the credit crisis was: "Why did nobody notice it?" It was, of course, the question millions of people around the world had asked as they learned of the impact of the credit crunch on the economies of their countries.

It can hardly be said that Malta has not noticed the ballooning cost of keeping the island's health services but it looks as if the country is closing one eye to it. Social Policy Minister John Dalli is therefore right to keep raising the issue. Ideally, he should now take a step further and press for action but, in today's difficult circumstances, it may be best to keep preparing the way, as it were, without losing his determination to ensure the sustainability of the health services within a reasonable timeframe.

Speaking at a seminar on the sustainability of the social services organised by the General Workers' Union, Mr Dalli remarked that in the budget for next year the government was projecting to spend €1.25 billion on health services, a staggering amount by any account. The figure is not likely to have made much impact on the public, not when, in the wake of the presentation of the budget, politicians from both sides of Parliament have been dishing out figures on all matters under the sun, almost literally, if one were to take into consideration the discussion on costs and rebates on energy-saving devices.

Few ever reflect on the costs involved in running health care and many hardly think twice of wasting precious resources, as shown by the well-known fact that there are people who abuse their entitlement to free medicine by continuing to take their entitlement even when they no longer need it. Little do they realise that their "free" medicine is financed out of taxes. Quite justifiably, Mr Dalli is promoting a debate on the possible introduction of public health insurance, financed out of a fund partly built up out of social security contributions.

But had not the government something similar in mind when it raised the value added tax from 15 per cent 18 per cent five years ago? Yes, but the idea had never really taken off. In the light of the public's growing expectations, greatly reinforced by a recent court decision over entitlement to payment for a particular case of surgery that could not be carried out in Malta, it is becoming even more necessary to go into the whole issue of ensuring, with the full backing of the opposition in Parliament, the sustainability of the health care service.