The Government is owed around Lm70,000 for medical treatment administered to non-EU citizens in the first nine months of this year.

A total of 1,507 non-EU citizens, the majority of whom are living in Malta, were treated between January and September, a spokesman for Mater Dei Hospital said. The bills amounted to a total of Lm335,000.

Dr Frank Bartolo, Mater Dei, Hospital's medical administrator, stressed the importance of recovering costs, adding that there was an abuse of the system and of public money.

Dr Bartolo said a number of non-EU citizens were working without paying national insurance, which would entitle them to free medical care, and yet they still expected to receive free treatment.

Those entitled to free treatment include Maltese and their children, those in possession of a work permit and who pay social security contributions, citizens of countries that have a reciprocal health care agreement with Malta and university students.

Dr Bartolo said that bills started to be issued when the authorities became aware of the costs involved.

Two cases of non-EU residents who needed medical treatment made the news recently. A 30-year-old Chinese man was left in limbo, faced with medical bills amounting to more than Lm20,000, after he suffered an intracranial haemorrhage and spent three months in hospital. And last month a 31-year-old Tunisian, who suffered serious leg fractures in an incident on board a fishing trawler, was also denied free treatment.

According to a legal notice published in 2004, people who are not entitled to free medical treatment will be billed Lm110 a day for a bed in a general ward, Lm210 per day for a high dependency care bed and Lm400 per day for care in the Intensive Therapy Unit.

Costs, varying from Lm110 for minor operations under local anaesthesia to Lm2,750 for specialised surgery, were established by the legal notice, which also set out prices for a number of procedures.