Anger over refusal of free hospital treatment for baby

The grandmother of a three-month-old baby girl yesterday expressed anger saying it had to take political pressure to resolve a situation in which the infant was refused free treatment at the hospital because she has a non-Maltese father.

The woman explained that her 17-year-old daughter had a baby girl by a 23-year-old foreigner who had been living in Malta with his family since he was three years old. The young man is registered as the father on the birth certificate. When, on December 27, the young mother took the baby to hospital for treatment, nurses told her she would have to pay because the baby’s father was not Maltese.

“We panicked. My daughter is 17 and cannot afford much. Should she have to spend her life paying for her daughter’s health-care,” the baby’s grandmother asked, adding that free treatment was eventually granted but only for that one occasion.

She is glad the situation seems to have been resolved after Labour MP Silvio Parnis raised the case in Parliament and it was publicised in the media.

“We were contacted by the hospital’s customer service saying the situation will be resolved and we have to go there, with the birth certificate, on Thursday (tomorrow)... What makes me angry is that it had to take political pressure to resolve the situation. We had spoken to someone before but nothing happened,” the grandmother added.

She explained that when the baby was born the family decided to register the father on the birth certificate rather than list “father unknown”.

“We love the child and want her to know her roots... You’re always hearing on the media the father should be registered... But what happened made us question whether we did the right thing... Apart from the problems in hospital we had issues also with children’s allowance,” she said.

Last month, the baby’s mother noticed blood in the nappy. They went to a private paediatrician who referred them to Mater Dei Hospital for tests. When they went there the nurses informed the family they would have to pay for the tests. But when the hospital staff realised their panic, they said they would treat the baby. They did so using the hospital records under which the baby, who was born there, was still listed under her mother’s Maltese surname. (It was then changed to her father’s surname on the birth certificate).

The matter was this week brought up in a parliamentary question tabled by Mr Parnis who asked why the child had not been treated.

Health Minister Joseph Cassar replied on Monday that the baby was not registered under the hospital patient administration system and there were not enough details for an adequate reply. He called on the parents to come forward so the case would be investigated.

After it was given media coverage, the ministry yesterday released a statement saying the hospital staff never refused treatment to the baby.

The parents were asked to pay because the child was registered under her father’s name. When the family refused to pay, the child was registered under her Maltese mother and treatment was given.

Names are not being published on the family’s request to protect the identity of the child.