There are over 14,300 people on Mater Dei’s surgical waiting list, with almost 3,000 pending for at least three years, according to figures seen by The Sunday Times of Malta.
The majority of these are waiting for an orthopaedic surgery, followed by eye and general operations.
The figures are provisional as Mater Dei’s centralised theatre system was still being compiled, according to Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia, who said all data from each hospital department will eventually be included in this database.
A spokesman for the Health Ministry said, in reply to questions sent by this newspaper, that a breakdown of what kind of operations these were was not available and would have to be compiled separately.
According to the data in hand, 2,659 have been on the list for more than 36 months while another 1,500 have been on the list for between two and three years.
Nearly 2,800 people have been on the list for between one and two years. Over 5,200 people are new to the waiting list, a saga that has been a hot potato for years.
Twenty-two hundred have been on the list for fewer than three months and another 3,000 have featured on the list for between three and six months.
Almost 300 people have been waiting for more than three years for their ophthalmic surgery, nearly 1,700 for an orthopaedic surgery and over 200 for some type of cardiac operation. Another 300 spent over three years waiting for a vascular intervention on arteries and veins.
In total, there are almost 3,500 people waiting for an ophthalmic intervention and 5,400 for an orthopaedic surgery.
Eight-hundred-and-fifteen are waiting for cardiac operations and almost 3,100 are waiting for general surgery, a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal contents including the oesophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and bile ducts. It also includes hernia.
Nearly 650 people have been waiting for a urological surgery and almost 1,000 for vascular surgery.
There are around 3,500 waiting for an MRI scan
As at May, there were almost 200 people waiting for plastic surgery, over 500 waiting for an ENT operation, another 510 for gynaecology surgery and almost 600 awaiting dentistry surgery.
Moreover, there is a waiting list of around 3,500 for an appointment for an MRI scan.
Mater Dei is not the only hospital with waiting lists. Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, which specialises in skin and cancer treatments, has a waiting list of 256 people who are waiting for a minor operation in the Dermatological Department.
These people have all been given an appointment and the waiting time is fewer than three months, Dr Farrugia said.
In Gozo, the situation seems to be rosy but the data could be misleading as the centralised booking system is not yet in place.
However, the data available shows that there are only 34 people on the waiting list for orthopaedic operations. They have been on the list for between seven months and a year.
Also at Gozo General Hospital, 28 children have been waiting for up to three months for an echocardiogram, an ultrasound of the heart.
This test for adults is more popular as around 44 people have been waiting for it for up to three months, 75 for between four and six months, 67 for up to a year, 39 for up to two years and 34 for up to three years.