Relatives urged to take care of post-op patients
'Problems cannot be solved overnight'
The Parliamentary Secretary for Health Joseph Cassar yesterday called on relatives of patients recovering from operations to care for them at home in order to free up needed hospital beds.
"I appreciate that this may require sacrifices, such as taking leave from work, but keep in mind that this would mean freeing a bed for someone else in need," Dr Cassar said during a public dialogue meeting at the Nationalist Party Club in Paola.
The shortage of beds has worsened since the migration from the old hospital in 2007, as there are now, at 850, fewer beds at the new Mater Dei Hospital. Dr Cassar said the government was hoping to tackle the problem through the building of a new rehabilitation hospital where patients would be able to spend their recovery period.
This should free beds taken up by people who do not need to remain at Mater Dei, he said. Until then, he urged people to help those relatives who are well enough to leave hospital and recover at home.
His call is reminiscent of an appeal for help made to relatives of bed-ridden patients in the summer of 2007 when nursing aides, health assistants and care workers in hospitals and homes for the elderly took industrial action. The response then was poor.
The call yesterday comes after an intense exchange between Social Solidarity Minister John Dalli and medical specialists over the problem of waiting lists, which, coupled with the shortage of beds, has turned out to be among the thorniest problems facing this government.
The minister, who once described the waiting lists as "scandalous", recently said some consultants were not pulling their weight.
But the claim was rejected by the Medical Association of Malta which put the blame on the fact that not enough operating theatres are being run because of staff shortages.
Dr Cassar said the government was addressing these shortages but also defended the waiting lists, pointing out that all of Europe is facing similar problems. "We have to understand that these problems cannot be solved overnight since the solution depends on a chain of issues," he said.
However, he pointed out some successes, quoting statistics which show that the list of ophthalmic operations had been reduced by 439 patients while the lists in orthopaedics had dropped by 23 per cent this year.
He said a public consultation exercise will soon start before the launch of a system under which everyone will be registered with a family doctor, who would be their link with consultants at Mater Dei, when needed.
This would rekindle the forgotten practice of visiting the family doctor, he said.