Malta’s healthcare system is becoming less consumer friendly dropping from 20th to 23rd position in the Euro Health Consumer Index.
In 2006, Malta was in the 13th position.
In the lead among the 31 countries in the survey are the Netherlands with a score of 839 points,followed by Denmark (Diabetes Index winner in 2008), Austria (index winner in 2007), Luxembourg and Sweden.
Malta scored 532 points out of a potential 1,000 in six categories, covering 34 performance indicators. The country improved its score compared to last year in cardiovascular healthcare and diabetes.
Index research director Arne Björnberg said that Malta was expected to make major improvements in future indexes since it had recently opened its first state-of-the-art.
“An emphasis on preventive medicine could help alleviate public health problems such as the high obesity rate, which presumably is a significant part of the reason behind the high Maltese rate of diabetics,” Dr Björnberg said.
The Euro Health Consumer Index is the annual ranking of national European healthcare systems across six key areas: Patient rights and information, e-Health, Waiting time for treatment, Outcomes, Range and reach of services provided and Pharmaceuticals.
First published in 2005, the EHCI is sourced from public statistics and independent research.
The producer is the analysis and information organisation Health Consumer Powerhouse.