Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has demanded an apology from Labour leader Alfred Sant over the health payments issue.
Dr Gonzi said at a press conference this morning that contrary to what Dr Sant had said, it had now become manifestly clear that the proposals contained in a report published by Dr Sant two days ago had never come before the Cabinet and were not therefore discussed there.
Speaking against the backdrop of Mater Dei Hospital, Dr Gonzi repeatedly insisted that his government never planned to introduce fees or payments for healthcare, and it never would for as long as he was a Prime Minister.
It was ironic, Dr Gonzi said, that he was being accused of something which Dr Sant himself had actually planned and done. For it was Dr Sant’s government which had introduced a levy on medicine prescriptions and on medical certificates. And proposals had also been made to the Labour government in 1998 to introduce payments for social cases at Zammit Clapp Hospital, including payment for food and transport.
Dr Gonzi said it was only under the PNthat the people could be assured that there would be no charges for health services. Dr Sant had said a few days ago that achieving a budget surplus was not a priority for him. That meant that Malta’s deficit and the public debt would continue to grow, as would debt servicing costs. And the MLP deputy leader and finance spokesman Charles Mangion was already on record saying that to service the debt, the government would have to cut back on, among others, health services.
At his press conference Dr Gonzi said the PN government had a track record to be proud of in the health service, while the record of the Labour government was a shameful one.
The biggest monument of the present government was Mater Dei Hospital, but there had also been significant progress in other state hospitals and this was continuing. Among them was the transformation of Zammit Clapp into a Cancer Hospital and the building of a 280-bed rehabilitation facility at St Vincent de Paule.
Nonetheless, the focus of the new administration would be on the primary health service so that fewer people would need to go to hospital, Dr Gonzi said.
He said a new PN government would be committed to cutting hospital waiting lists through the use of the new facilities at Mater Dei, better management as a result of the new agreements reached with doctors, and use of private facilities where necessary.
There would be an electronic network between public and private clinics and the hospital, for a better service, the list of free medicines would be extended and the pharmacy of your choice scheme would be extended to all of Malta.