Updated 4.30pm
Maltese people live on average 90 per cent of their life in good health, better than any other European country, a new report has found.
The European Observatory’s Health Systems in Transition Report, published today, shows “exceptional progress” in the health of the Maltese people, Health Minister Chris Fearne told a news conference.
The last report, published in 2014, had highlighted a number of challenges and shortcomings facing the health sector, but the latest instalment presents a healthier picture.
The new report found that Maltese life expectancy was longer than any EU country. Maltese men live on average until the age of 79.8 years - more than a year longer than the EU average. Women, on the other hand, lived to the average age of 84.3, again, a year longer than the EU average.
The report says the increases in longevity were largely due to declining death rates from all causes.
According to the report, Malta had the lowest rate of preventable mortality in the EU, but it also says obesity is the principal public health problem. With 25 per cent of adults obese as well as 27 per cent of children (aged 11-15), Malta tops the EU’s weighing scales.
READ: Maltese the fattest in Europe... by a wide margin
Asked how the Maltese were living relatively long and healthy lives, despite a number of other reports which over the years have pointed to numerous health concerns on the island, Mr Fearne said the problems of obesity and inactivity were widespread across Europe.
Maltese, he said, were still healthy compared to their EU neighbours.
Malta has one of the highest prevalences of Type II diabetes in the EU – 10 per cent compared to 2-3 per cent of European neighbours.
“There is are a lot more health concerns than obesity and inactivity, we are faring quite well across the board,” Mr Fearne said.
Another issue highlighted by the report was preventable death, which it says was the lowest in the EU. This however, contrasts with a Eurostat report which last year had found that two out of every five deaths in Malta involving persons aged 75 years or less could have been avoided in the light of medical knowledge and available technology.
Today’s report meanwhile gives an overall clean bill of health for the island’s health sector. It refers to the increase in hospital beds and nurses, and points out that the number doctors per capita is well above the European average.
It also raises the issue of “out of pocket” spending on healthcare – that which is not covered by health insurance.
Maltese were being hit harder by this than their European counterparts. In fact, the report found that 29 per cent of healthcare expenditure came out of patients’ own pockets – double the EU average.
Out of pocket spending on healthcare accounts for 4.4 per cent of total household final consumption, the third highest rate in Europe, the report found.
“Low-income households in Malta generally spend a larger proportion of their income on health, than their higher income counterparts,” the report says.
Asked about this, Mr Fearne said this was mainly related to the fees paid to see private GPs. The €20 average cost of seeing a GP was more of an expense for lower income families than those who were better off financially, he said.