Malta’s primary health centres will be renovated in the manner of the recent refurbishment of the Rabat health centre by the end of this government’s legislature, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said during yesterday’s Times Talk on TVM.
Answering questions about why many patients often chose to head straight to Mater Dei Hospital instead of seeking medical assistance at primary health centres, Dr Farrugia said primary healthcare was an aspect neglected by the Nationalist Party for the past 20 years.
When it was pointed out that the state of some of the health clinics, commonly known as bereġ, left much to be desired, the minister said the government was in the process of rolling out a campaign which would see health care centres being renovated along the lines of the recent refurbishment of the Rabat health centre. This had cost €500,000.
The centre now has two clinics and four treatment rooms and offers a range of services including diabetes control, immunisation, well-baby, paediatric, podology and speech therapy.
Opposition spokesman for health Claudio Grech highlighted three factors which led to the chronic problem at the Accident and Emergency Department.
The first was the time patients spent waiting. He pointed out that 60 to 70 per cent of patients at the emergency department went there of their own accord.
People didn’t have faith in being effectively served at the primary health centres, he continued.
Additionally, general practitioners often referred patients even if their condition was not serious, using the emergency department as a shortcut into the hospital.
Reacting to comments by nurses’ union president Paul Pace that there was no ward at Mater Dei which had the full staff complement of six nurses, Dr Farrugia replied there would be enough nurses if the shift system was restructured.
However, he conceded that there was a general shortage of nurses on the island, adding that restructuring was needed on an academic level.
Many students in possession of an A-level in Biology were more inclined to follow a course which led to graduation as doctors as opposed to nurses.
Mr Grech expressed concern that there was a great deal of unrest among unions. Greater management of current resources was needed.
Summing up the problems plaguing Malta’s healthcare system, Saint James Hospital chairman Josie Muscat said the system was abused by healthcare professionals, by patients, by agents who sold equipment and medicine, by insurance companies and by politicians.