Malta has a "damn good" healthcare system but more energy needs to be devoted to ensure its sustainability, otherwise it may not remain so good in 10 year's time, according to Social Policy Minister John Dalli.
Speaking at the launch of the new breast screening centre, Mr Dalli refused to comment about ongoing discussions with private hospital St Philip's to improve the bed shortage problem at Mater Dei Hospital, as revealed by the Sunday Times.
"Regarding talks that we may or may not be having, I will wait (to comment) until there are certain developments. For now there has been no development," he said.
The option to use private hospitals to beef up Mater Dei's bed complement has not been opposed by professional organisations but it has been seen as an admission that the €300 million state-of-the-art hospital is too small.
During his speech, Mr Dalli boasted that Malta had one of the best healthcare systems in the world, despite the problems that people often wrote about. He said the country needed to focus on prevention of diseases, since this not only improves quality of life but also reduces healthcare costs.
"I'm an accountant not a doctor," he added, jokingly.
A lot of work had gone into promoting good diets, exercise and highlighting the dangers of smoking, and this breast screening programme was another exercise in prevention, Mr Dalli said.
The breast screening centre at Lascaris Wharf, which began operating about two weeks ago, will test some 14,000 women a year free of charge.
During its inauguration, Parliamentary Secretary for Health Joe Cassar encouraged people to make use of this centre as part of the screening programme in which women in their 50s will receive invitation letters at home to go and get tested.
Women between 50 and 60 are said to be in the highest risk age group and will be the first ones to be encouraged to get a check-up.
The inauguration was also visited by Parliamentary Secretary for Lands Jason Azzopardi who took care of the logistical matters and provided "the keys" to the centre by providing the building which was converted from an HSBC bank.
Mr Dalli said this was done without the usual bureaucracy.
The breast screening centre and programme has been in the pipeline for three years but according to Mr Dalli and Dr Cassar, their deadlines had been reached through the combined efforts of all concerned.
The screening programme was first officially announced during the presentation of last year's budget.
In December 2007, former Health Minister Louis Deguara said it should be up and running in a short time.
The screening programme was mentioned again in the budget for this year, when it was allocated €700,000.