Government outsources knee operations

Health Minister Joe Cassar announced this morning that the government has signed agreements for patients to have two types of knee operations at private hospitals and clinics under the health service.

Patients who have waited a long time for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee and for arthroscopic operations will be offered the chance to go private free of charge.

St James Hospital in Sliema will carry out both MRIs and arthroscopic operations, while Da Vinci Hospital in Birkirkara will do MRIs and St Anne's Clinic in Birkirkara will do arthroscopic operations.

The government is contracting out 1,000 arthroscopic operations and 400 MRI knee scans under the terms of the agreements.

The minister would not reveal how much the initiative will cost.

Patients who have been on the waiting lists the longest will be given priority in an effort to cut waiting lists.

Five patients have already been contacted for arthroscopic operations while around 80 MRI knee scans have already been carried out under the agreement.

Chief medical officer Natasha Azzopardi Muscat said the current waiting time for an arthroscopic operation was 18 months and for a non-urgent MRI knee scan it was one year.

"These are simple, risk-free procedures that will enable us to reduce waiting lists," Ms Azzopardi Muscat explained.

This follows the government's decision to outsource cataracts operations to private clinics and hospital last year, which slashed list to 18 months from five years for normal procedures.

"We can never completely eliminate waiting lists, particularly as our population is living longer and we are offering more screening services to identify health problems in need of surgery," Dr Cassar said.

"But this has proved to be an effective way of reducing lists and we exploring ways we can reduce other waiting lists with the help of the private sector".