Malta was among only a handful of EU member states that managed to keep its spending on health care intact during the economic difficulties of 2010, although it spends slightly less per capita on health than the average.
The island spent 8.6 of its GDP on public healthcare in 2010, 0.4 per cent less than the EU average.
But this represented an increase of 3.6 per cent in GDP terms over the previous year, according to a new report published by the European Commission called Health at a Glance: Europe 2012.
The growth was slightly higher than Malta’s 3.5 per cent average growth rate between 2000 and 2009, and the second largest in the EU, surpassed only by Romania at 4.2 per cent.
In monetary terms, while the 27 EU member states spend an average of €2,171 per capita on healthcare, Malta spent €1,758.
On the other hand, most of the other EU countries, hit quite badly with the economic recession, were forced to cut spending and healthcare was one of the areas that fell under the knife.
The report, compiled together with the OECD, shows that while between 2000 and 2009, per capita annual average growth in EU spending on healthcare stood at 4.6 per cent, it went down by 0.6 per cent in 2010.
The biggest cuts were made by Ireland (-7.9 per cent) and Greece (-7.3 per cent), two countries which had to be bailed out by the EU and the IMF.
However, other countries too, which are much stronger economically than Malta, including Denmark, the UK and Spain, had to slash their spending on healthcare.
The biggest healthcare spenders in the EU in 2010 were the Netherlands (€3,890 per capita), Luxembourg (€3,607), and Denmark (€3,439). On the other hand Bulgaria and Romania were the lowest spending countries at just €700.
According to the report, reductions in public spending on health were achieved through a range of measures, including reductions in wages and employment levels, increases in direct payments by households for certain services and pharmaceuticals, and imposing severe budget constraints on hospitals.
Gains in efficiency have also been pursued through mergers of hospitals or accelerating the move from inpatient care to outpatient care and day surgery.