The Times They Are A-Changin' was a song popularised by blues legend Bob Dylan a number of years back. The Budget 2010 represents a change and an opportunity for each and every one of us. Our world is slowly coming out of one of the worst recessions we have seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The Budget presented by the government was aimed at instilling confidence back into the financial sector, thus, once again looking to attract potential investment towards our country.
Barely a week after the Budget was presented, the government announced the venture by SR Technics that will be investing millions of euros directly into our economy and also set up a recruitment campaign of over 300 jobs. This investment goes to show that Malta still retains its attraction as an investment destination.
Notwithstanding, this Budget has continued to invest in the vulnerable sectors of society and in services that are essential for the public to continue living at a standard we have all become accustomed to. The health sector, which I am directly responsible for, has been given an extra €26 million this year, for a total of €289 million to cater for this extremely important sector. The Budget has also set a number of targets in this sector that the government wants to reach both in the short and medium term. The money voted is there to ensure we continue giving an even better service than is already being done now, reaching the highest quality of care possible.
The waiting list initiative is one of our priority targets. We have given a commitment to the people to reduce the waiting lists over a three-year period. Work has already started in two areas, those for ophthalmology and orthopaedics, where lists have already been cut by at least 30 per cent. This is being done in a very simple manner. We have moved from a system whereby consultants used to keep their own personal diaries to a centralised database. Each person on these diaries is being contacted both via a letter and through a telephone call and, on confirmation that they still need the necessary intervention, their name is then entered into this database. It is planned that this process will be applied to all specialities.
This way we will have a real picture of the situation and also be in a better position to tackle the real problems. To show how serious we are in tackling this subject, the government has voted €4 million towards this aim.
This Budget has also set a number of congruent initiatives towards a holistic and ambitious programme to fight cancer. This includes the launch of a new cancer strategy and the construction of a new state-of-the-art oncology centre at Mater Dei Hospital. Over the past year we have also started a breast screening programme to ensure that women are screened regularly because we strongly believe that prevention is better than cure.
This year we have also continued to invest in all our medical professions. We have managed to retain over 80 per cent of our graduate doctors. This is an extremely satisfactory result considering that in previous years over 50 per cent of them used to leave the island to work and study abroad.
Our main success was the introduction of post-graduate courses for doctors who can now continue their studies here in Malta. The Institute of Health Care has also initiated a new concept locally, that of e-learning for certain courses. This will help in that nurses can now continue their studies in their own time without the need of taking time off work.
The measures in this Budget will be instrumental for us to reach our targets to continuously improve the services, assuring the quality and keeping the health system sustainable. We have worked and will continue working to ensure that in the health sector we give our population the best. I really believe that in the health sector all stakeholders, including political, economical and social actors, should work closer together in order to ensure that the citizen will always remain at the centre of our work.
Dr Cassar is Parliamentary Secretary for Health.