Health Minister accuses Labour of using scare-mongering tactics

Health Minister Joseph Cassar has accused Labour opposition of using scare-mongering tactics to alarm cancer patients when the government was not only containing the disease but even trying to prevent it. The opposition had argued that cancer was increasing at a fast pace. But, he said, the truth was that while cases had increased, the mortality rate of cancer patients had decreased.

Women attending the breast screening centre had increased from 42 per cent to 66 per cent in just 10 months and 45 females were positively diagnosed. The sum of €187,000 had already been spent on mammograms, for which patients did not pay anything.

Dr Cassar belied opposition claims that the investment in the health sector decreased for next year by €11 million. On the contrary, capital expenditure would increase by €9 million and recurrent expenditure by €4.5 million – €13.5 million more than 2010. He again strongly denied that the government intended to introduce fees for health services.

The government was committed to provide the best medicine possible. It had added 16 new medicines to the formulary, so that herceptin would now also be given to cancer patients passing through the second stage. These 16 medicines were costing the country €3.45 million and 1,497 patients benefitted from them – an average of €2,322 per head.

Refurbishment works were being carried out at Boffa Hospital where there would be 47 more beds for cancer patients and better equipped than if the centre was moved to Zammit Clapp hospital which had radiotherapy as main role. The government had also embarked on screening strategy with the service being developed and which would cost €12 million over a five-year period. It was also building a palliative care unit.

Work on the centre for oncology at Mater Dei Hospital had started through EU funding.

Mater Dei was the ever largest health investment in Malta, where 93,000 patients had 243,000 appointments. On a daily basis at Mater Dei, an average of 115 operations and 13,000 blood analyses were carried. Another 297 patients called at the emergency department every day.

Waiting lists would never be eradicated because new patients were always being registered. It was better to talk about waiting time.

Dr Cassar that the waiting list for operations had decreased in certain specialities: that for hip replacement dropped by 359 patients between July last year and September 2010, and that for knee replacement dropped from 2,720 to 1,910 over the same period. The list of operations was not static. Urgent operations were carried immediately with no waiting whatsoever, while patients had to wait between three and six months for semi urgent operations.

The list of operations in the orthopaedic department decreased by 4,070, in the ophthalmology department dropped by 677 and in the ENT operations dropped by another 264. More foreign consultants were being brought to Malta with fewer Maltese having to go abroad for such consultations.

The patient experience survey showed that 80 per cent of patients thought that they were given excellent service At Mater Dei.

Minister Cassar also delved into the problem of medicines which were out of stock. This was mainly due to the methods of procurement used, because one could not procure through the “one-size-fits-all” principle in health matters. New accountable methods would be employed in the procurement of medicines.

He said that the government had invested €37,934 every hour on health, with a record expenditure of €332 million in the 2011 Budget. Not everything was rosy he said. Out of stock medicines, waiting lists, emergencies and primary and preventive care were among the major problems in health care.

Earlier, Dr Cassar said 500 applicants, even from non-EU countries, had applied to work as nurses and 56 had been approved. A process was underway to determine the foreigners’ qualifications and the various permits they needed to work in Malta.

All the students who wanted to follow medical courses, include 23 mature students, had been approved. Similarly there were 211 applications for the foundation course for doctors.

Dr Cassar said Malta suffered no brain drain but it had a brain gain.

Malta’s health was not in a state of disaster as the Opposition claimed. Suffice to say that life expectancy of Maltese was better than that of the citizens of Cyprus, which the opposition was using as a benchmark.

Various prevention campaigns were launched this year dealing with breast health, prostate cancer and the effects of smoking. Moreover various strategies had been introduced mainly the non-communicable disease strategy and the strategy against obesity. The sum of €400,000 had been voted for a media campaign so that the Maltese would learn how to eat and exercise in a healthy way.

The sexual health policy would serve as a basis for the delicate sector’s strategy.

Some 4,500 inspections in food shops had been carried out while 1,979 samples were taken from the sea to protect public health.

The Occupational Health and Safety Authority had opted for more enforcement. According to Eurostat, Malta had a lesser rate of industrial accidents than other EU member-states.

It was the government’s intention to move legislation to make occupational health and safety more effective. A committee would be set up to ensure that SMEs conform to regulations.

Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea said the John Paul II ward in St Vincent de Paul was catering for 144 patients.

An investment of €9 million had been made. There had been an increase from 10,000 to 76,000 in the distribution of the Meals on Wheels. The quality of the meal had also improved.

Nationalist MPs Jean Pierre Farrugia and Peter Micallef also took part in the debate.