Malta is questioning the recent report which stated it has the second highest rate in Europe of people who died from a stroke within 30 days of being admitted to hospital, Times of Malta has learnt.
According to a report drafted by the European Commission and the OECD, the percentage of people who died within 30 days of having been admitted due to a stroke in Malta stood at 18.8 per cent, superseded only by Latvia at 19 per cent.
The lowest rate was in Denmark, with 4.1 per cent. The EU average stood at 9.6 per cent.
The clinical chairman at the Department of Neuroscience, Norbert Vella, said he had been informed by the Directorate for Health Information and Research that they had provided a different standardised rate when asked to supply the data.
“According to their calculations, the standardised 30-day mortality rate for stroke was 9.2 per cent and 8.9 per cent respectively for 2011 and 2012.”
The directorate has in fact written to the OECD questioning the rate published and asking how it was calculated.
PN Health Spokesman Claudio Grech said that although there may be different ways of measuring, which could have given rise to the indicated performance, this state of affairs was of “serious concern” and should be a matter of priority in terms of health policy.
The health service should extend its screening programmes to encapsulate diabetes and cardiovascular domains, he said.
“Jointly with screening, the government should make more promotional efforts to raise the awareness among the general public, particularly on the importance of irregular pulse investigation.”
Strokes could be avoided with the appropriate detection measures in place.
Continuity of care should be assured between the patients and the care-givers, especially with regard to GPs, he added.
Mater Dei Hospital needed to provide the optimal level of care to patients with strokes or risks of strokes, which could be brought about if it was allowed to operate as a real acute hospital. Strokes would not become the “be all, end all” of all medical ailments, Mr Grech said.
A key contributor to managing the impacts of strokes was the establishment of a proper rehabilitation function.
“Our country’s rehabilitation facilities are a far cry from where they should be.”