What made good, logical sense 18 years ago ought to remain so today but not, apparently, in politics. In 1996, Alfred Sant’s short-lived Labour government had proposed a €1.16 nominal charge on each prescription for medicine from the State hospital. It was a good idea meant to cut waste and abuse and, even more important, to make people understand that the health service and the supply of medicine come at a cost.
In other words, it aimed at trying to bring about a change of mentality, from one basically based on just taking, as of right, what is available in the mistaken belief that it is free to one that is judicious and responsible at a time when the health service is fast becoming unsustainable.
Yet, the move was shot down out of hand by the Opposition. People were made to believe that the nominal charge could be considered as a tax and when the Nationalists were returned to office in an unexpected election that followed the Labour leader’s showdown with Dom Mintoff, they quickly discarded the measure.
That was a capital mistake, one that it should rue for many more years to come. In going against the move, it helped perpetuate the belief that the health service ought to be free in its entirety to all for all time.
Now that this attitude has been ingrained in the psyche, the two main political parties lose no opportunity in assuring voters that they absolutely have no intention of ever changing the system and they will tackle warnings of unsustainability their own way and in their own time.
In the light of this self-serving two-party dictum, news that the health minister had reportedly distanced himself from a pay-on-collection proposal was hardly surprising.
As was the case in the nominal charge proposed by the Sant administration, the idea for the replacement of the current arrangement with a pay-on-collection system, made by the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, is also meant to reduce waste in the supply of medicine.
Under the scheme that is being proposed, reimbursement is made according to a pre-established benchmark and those unable to afford paying on collection will be given a pre-charged e-health card that is topped up by the State as required.
Some have already cried foul and the chorus against it will no doubt rise as the flames of opposition against any change in the health service are fanned even further.
The proposal was first made about four years ago, but, as expected, it died a natural death. Will it meet the same fate again this time?
Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said, when distancing himself from the proposal: “I am personally against it but the consultation process is still open and the government has no official position yet.”
The irony involved in a Labour minister being against a proposal that has the same aim as one Labour had piloted years ago is quite telling. The minister ought to say now what alternative, if any, he has in mind. Or he should give an indication as to when the government is planning to make its position known.
The health service is providing so many headaches that it is about time the Administration wakes up to its responsibilities and starts taking action to remedy matters.
The problem over the supply of free medicine, with its concurrent waste and abuse, is just one of many that cry out for solution.