Gonzi welcomes progress in the health sector

Dr Gonzi expressed his satisfaction today at progress made in the health sector, although he stressed that more needs to be done.

"I am proud to be leading a government where, despite all the problems around us, we will next year spend €416 million on this sector. This shows how our priorities are in the right place," Dr Gonzi said.

Malta was investing in this sector and others in a sustainable manner, as proved by the fact that the national deficit would decrease further next year.

He said the biggest challenge remained the waiting lists. In the last full year of St Luke's Hospital, 32,000 operations were performed, This year, up to October, 37,000 had been performed. The government was also making progress in forging partnerships with the private sector, with patients treated in private hospitals/clinics at the government's expense. In the past few months, 400 cataract operations were performed in the private sector.

After the millennium gift of Mater Dei Hospital, the government was now also planning to gift the people with the new €60m oncology hospital, Dr Gonzi added. That would raise the number of available beds to 47 from 27 at Boffa Hospital. The new centre would also have 26 other beds for daycare services. This project went hand in hand with the breast screening programme, which had to date saved almost 100 lives, Dr Gonzi said. Colorectal screening would now also be launched.

In his comments, Dr Gonzi cautioned that tough challenges appeared to be on the horizon for the manufacturing and tourism sectors next year, but said the people should not be disheartened. After all, this year, which also had many problems, still saw all sectors create jobs, except for the construction sector. The government in the Budget had provided schemes and incentives to business - such as easier access to funding -  to maintain economic momentum.

Dr Gonzi highlighted other areas of the Budget, such as the extension of maternity leave and incentives to encourage women to return to work, including the year-long tax break for every child born since 2007 to every woman that has returned to work. The government, however, needed to remain a model employer, ensuring that its employees had a proper work-life balance, he said.

POWER STATION

Dr Gonzi said it had become clear that Joseph Muscat's promises to reduce power tariffs all centred around the Sargas power generation proposal. The government was always open to proposals, Dr Gonzi said, but it did not take decisions before expert evaluation. It was, however, logical to ask how this seemingly wonder system was not found all over Europe, if it was as good as claimed.

Furthermore, would it suit the country to build yet another power station once Malta was already extending the power station and would also have the interconnector to the European grid? The government wanted diverse sources of power, for security of supply at the best prices and he felt the next big step would be to eventually convert the power station to gas, especially if EU funding became available.

Concluding Dr Gonzi urged the people to put division aside and also to be generous in l-istrina.