Skimmed milk crosses Louis Deguara’s mind when he hears the Government say it wants to cut down waste at Mater Dei Hospital.

Having heard the Prime Minister speak in Parliament of gross mismanagement at the hospital, the former health minister believes controlling expenditure by cutting waste is easier said than done.

Dr Deguara, a GP, recalled when a decision was taken to stop the distribution of free skimmed milk after investigations showed beneficiaries sold it to confectioneries instead. The pressure was immense, he added.

“Cutting waste means introducing strict controls and the moment you do this people will be bitten and pressure from voters to reverse decisions kicks in,” he said. Dr Deguara retired from politics at the last election and was health minister more than six years ago when the general hospital moved from St Luke’s in Pietà to Mater Dei in Msida.

He insisted health was “a bottomless pit”. The longer people live and the more developed treatments become, the higher the expenditure to maintain the health service.

“It is very difficult for health to remain completely free but the tragedy is this has become a political football and both political parties keep promising things without realising the implications of what they are saying,” Dr Deguara said.

On Tuesday the Prime Minister offered a glimpse of the yet unpublished Dalli report, an X-ray of the hospital taken by former European Commissioner and one-time health minister John Dalli. Joseph Muscat highlighted an €83 million gap in the hospital’s inventory and a running expenditure of €230 million that was unaccounted for.

I believe it is very difficult for health to remain completely free but the tragedy is this has become a political football

Dr Deguara said there were well-paid people who should be held accountable for mismanagement.

“We have to stop blaming the minister every time issues of management crop up... there are managers who are paid more than the Prime Minister to do this job,” he said.

However, Dr Deguara was critical of a recent decision that people in possession of the yellow card would lose their entitlement to free medicines if they did not collect them twice in a row.

This means people will have to re-apply for the yellow card.

He said there were people such as asthma sufferers, who only needed medication two or three times a year.

“Under this new regime they will lose their yellow card and to avoid re-applying they are forced to hoard medicines unnecessarily,” he said.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com