Despite all-round appeals, including mine, to the government for some solution to be found to the disheartingly-long waiting lists the taxpayer is faced with when s/he has the misfortune to need an operation, nothing has been done and these lists are becoming frighteningly longer by the day.
This is a serious failure by the government in safeguarding the vital interests of the people. An effective solution to this miserable state of affairs when it comes to the people's health must be found and found urgently.
The report by the Ombudsman himself on the matter, which has just been published, lambasting the excessive waiting time for an operation, vindicates the appeals to the government on this matter that I have been shouting about from the rooftops since last October. And, what's more, the system stinks and the government cannot make heads or tails of it. It is completely powerless.
Instead of ensuring a better service to the public, the government and the health authorities have introduced systems that fail to serve the people. The Ombudsman's report is actually the latest entry in a list of demerits of the present government in providing an essential and timely medical service to the community. It seems that the interests of patients do not rank high in the government's list of priorities.
Should we need further proof, the media are replete with hitherto unheard-of adverts by local hospitals and clinics offering fast surgical and medical intervention. Clearly, the private sector has identified a burgeoning demand in this area.
That a patient needing a surgical intervention in his country has to wait for years is nothing short of scandalous, as admitted by the minister responsible for health, John Dalli, as far back as June of last year.
Despite the fact that the government is fully aware of this serious problem, over the last few months the situation has certainly not improved at all, and in all probability it has even worsened. The onus for shortening the waiting time for operations rests solely on the shoulders of the government.
In November and again in December of last year I proposed, and still whole-heartedly believe so, that the government should use all the medical resources on the islands, public and private, as this is the most speedy and glaringly obvious solution to the problem. If this does not prove to be sufficient, then it should go as far as to facilitate access to operations overseas. This position has now become the Labour Party's official stand on the matter.
The government cannot escape its own damning statistics. According to the figures I have, in 2008 there were 5,351 patients waiting for eye cataract surgery, that is, 1,000 per cent or 10 times the number for the year 2000.
For hip replacement surgery there were 1,035 patients, which is a 500 per cent increase, or five times, the 175 patients who were waiting for the same operation in 2000.
In the case of knee replacement, the figure stands at 2,127.
These are shameful and totally unacceptable numbers and, hence, the Ombudsman's critical report of the present system. We speak here of statistics, but behind every number there is a person in physical and moral anguish, which often extends to his or her loved ones. The patient clearly does not come first for this ossified, insensitive government.
We have yet to see real political will on the part of the incumbent for both a short-term emergency solution to this problem and long-term measures.
Yes, we can begin alleviating the pain by using the resources already existing in Malta if the government comes to an arrangement with the private medical sector. At the same time, an eye must be kept on what is being discussed and is already available within the European Union with regard to a member's access to timely medical care in other member states. This would, in a very short span of time, greatly benefit and give new hope to those suffering as their names continue to feature on the waiting lists.
Even a government obstinate and inured to this problem will, at the end of the day, still have to face the music as patients pay their own medical costs abroad and then seek redress in the Maltese courts. A precedent already exists whereby the court ordered the government to pay compensation to a patient for an operation he had to undergo abroad because it was denied him in Malta.
Why should an Administration that is supposed to be truly committed to solving the problems its own inefficiency creates for the people have its ears clipped by the European Union to give its taxpayers their rightful due? Recourse to an efficient and effective medical service is a right, not a privilege, in a First World country, especially if one keeps in mind that this service, or should I say disservice, is, after all, financed out of our own pockets. The citizens, the people, must come first and their health in its turn comes first.
Mr Bedingfield is a Labour member of the European Parliament.
www.glennbedingfield.com