While agreeing that there is “definitely a need” for more hospital beds to treat acute cases, the doctors’ association is also urging caution.
Gordon Caruana Dingli, president of the Medical Association of Malta, said there were not enough doctors and other hospital staff to cater for an expansion at Mater Dei Hospital or the building of a new hospital.
“The investment will be substantial and the health budget will have to increase,” he said, noting MAM had stated Mater Dei Hospital was too small when it was being planned years ago.
The issue came to the fore recently when Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said Malta was some 400 hospital beds short to treat acute cases.
The precarious situation was once again addressed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who last Sunday said the government was working on short and long-term plans for Mater Dei, including the nurses’ union suggestion to build an acute hospital.
Dr Caruana Dingli insisted that providing 400 beds could not happen overnight and other measures had to be taken to alleviate the pressure on Mater Dei.
Hospital is a victim of its own success
One such measure is to improve primary healthcare services to prevent people from going to Mater Dei in the first place.
This could be done through a better IT structure that increased cooperation between the hospital and the primary care facilities, he said.
Keeping elderly patients in a home environment would also help.
Dr Caruana Dingli said having more “lower-dependency beds” for the elderly would free up the high-dependency beds at Mater Dei.
However, he acknowledged that while there was scope to make better use of Mater Dei through greater efficiency, this was not enough.
“There is a limit to how much can be squeezed out of it and there is definitely a need for more beds,” he said.
Dr Caruana Dingli believes that the principal problem with Mater Dei is the great demand for its services, which made the hospital “a victim of its own success”.
He said despite the problems that often came to the fore, the standards of healthcare were very good when measured by international standards.
“This is due to the hard work by Mater Dei’s doctors and staff,” he noted.
The MAM president said it was best to have a scientific study to determine the adequate number of acute hospital beds needed in view of the increasing population, including the number of tourists who visited, and the fact that people were living longer.
Dr Farrugia said the World Health Organisation would be releasing a comprehensive study of Malta’s healthcare system later this month.
This would include the number of beds required throughout the system, whether they were acute hospital beds, of a rehabilitative nature or beds for the elderly.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com