Thousands of patients waiting to renew the so-called karta safra (yellow card), which entitles them to free medicine for chronic diseases, were having to wait for hours on end for nothing, the Labour Party has said.

PL comments prove just how many benefited

Some people would get to the front of the queue at St Luke’s Hospital only to be told that they had missing details and be made to go back, the party’s spokesman for health, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, said.

She blamed the situation on lack of resources.

Ms Coleiro Preca said the lucky ones who managed to successfully submit their application then had to wait for weeks before they got their cards, denying them the right to pick up free medicine.

The Health Ministry said the PL’s comments proved just how many people had benefited from a reform that doubled the number of medicinal products in the system from 38 to 79.

The reform also led to the scheme having 124,215 beneficiaries. Such an increase and necessary changes in the relevant forms meant people sometimes did have to wait, the government added.

It pointed out that €69 million was being invested in free medicine every year.