(Adds PN statement) A public-private partnership was launched this morning between the Health authorities and the St James and Da Vinci hospitals for the provision of MRI services by the private sector.
The aim of the partnership is to cut down on hospital waiting lists.
The Nationalist Party welcomed the deal.
Speaking this morning, Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said that in March there were 3,805 patients awaiting an MRI test. New appointments were being given for 2016.
Mr Fearne said that through the agreement patients who would have been waiting for more than a year would, as from May 1, be invited to take the MRI test at the St James or Da Vinci hospitals at the government's expense.
Next in line would be patients waiting for more than six months, and later those who would have been on the waiting list for more than three months.
Waiting time, Mr Fearne said, shall be cut down from two years to three months by May 1, 2015.
The government would pay the private hospitals directly and patients would not be charged.
Mr Fearne did not give details on costs, saying this was a commercial agreement. However, he said it was almost equivalent to what it cost the government to hold MRI tests at Mater Dei Hospital, which was €150 to €190 per patient.
He said that the funding for the service would come from the budget vote allocated for waiting list reductions.
On the Pharmacy of Your Choice Scheme, Mr Fearne said he and Minister Konrad Mizzi would be presenting their recommendations to cabinet to overhaul the system.
Asked about claims that people close to the Labour Party's core were receiving preference, Dr Mizzi again denied the claim saying "there will never be political discrimination under our watch".
He said it was government's duty, however, to help patients who may be facing problems, irrespective of who they were or their political beliefs.
The agreement was signed between Mr Fearne for the Health Department, Josie Muscat for St James Hospital and Pierre Vassallo for Da Vinci Hospital.
PN WELCOMES DEAL
In a statement, the Nationalist Party welcomed the government's decision to return to the system embarked upon by the previous administration and go into partnership with the private sector in the provision of health services.
Although this was just the first step to rebuild what had been dismantled by this same government in its first year of administration, the Nationalist Party would give its full support to the measure for a better Malta, it said.
It said that it now hoped that this agreement would be extended to other aspects to address other endemic problems including the exaggerating waiting times for operations, crowding and waiting time at the Emergency Department.