In-vitro fertilisation will be offered for free at the main public hospital by a private operator under a partnership model proposed by the Government.
The arrangement will also see the fully-equipped laboratories at Mater Dei Hospital being used outside duty hours by the operator to service private patients.
A call for tenders with the details of the planned out-sourcing arrangement was issued on Tuesday in Malta and overseas.
The Health Ministry said eligible couples would be given the opportunity of three free IVF interventions. Infertility counselling services will also be offered throughout the process.
The operator will be involved in the clinical aspects of IVF treatment such as egg retrieval, production of sperm samples, sperm preparation and surgical extraction of sperm.
The operator will also carry out the IVF procedure, including embryo culture and transfering fertilised eggs back into the womb.
This is a new public-private partnership model, tailor-made for the local Mater Dei Hospital context
“This is a new public-private partnership model, tailor-made for the local context where Mater Dei Hospital assets would yield a return on the investment as the private provider may utilise these same facilities for private patients in out of duty hours,” the ministry said.
Mater Dei has been equipped with the necessary facilities to carry out IVF since inception but the lack of legislation regulating the sector prevented the hospital from offering the service.
A law regulating IVF was passed last year but the procedure had been available in the private sector for at least 20 years.
The tender is the first step towards the eventual offering of IVF as part of the national healthcare package, the ministry said.
Couples will soon start to be screened for eligibility, it added.
To be clinically eligible for the service, a couple have to be referred to the Fertility Assisted Clinic at Mater Dei by their family doctor or specialist.
The private operator will not be involved in the clinical assessment of the couple and the preparatory treatment leading up to IVF.