It was obvious why there were waiting lists, unnecessary delays at the emergency department, a long list of out of stock medicines, lack of beds and patients who ended up in the corridors, Labour MP Godfrey Farrugia told Parliament last night.

The necessary planning in line with Malta’s demographic trends had not been made.

He said that during the year he had spent as Minister for Health, he had gathered information on the situation prevailing in the public health sector.

He had found that the sustainability of the sector was not being managed properly, there were huge debts, there was no consideration being made for the aging population and each year’s budget should have been increased by five per cent.

A number of EU directives had not yet been implemented. It was not enough to transpose them. A legislative reform was required and Labour had introduced the Health Act which brought together all laws going back to the 1930s. Finances, accessibility and quality of treatment were all discussed.

The Patient Charter or Rights was introduced and an effort was made to see how much the health sector was costing the Exchequer, so as to create the structure that would reduce the long waiting lists.