The average waiting time at Mater Dei Hospital’s Emergency Department was cut from 13 to just three hours, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday.
Addressing a gathering at the Valletta Labour Party club, Dr Muscat said he was keeping his finger on the pulse of the healthcare system. “I listen to people’s concerns about healthcare. I know what irks them and we are working to improve the situation every day,” Dr Muscat said.
About 90 per cent of patients, he said, were waiting an average of 10 hours less in Emergency before receiving treatment, something that was making a tangible difference to people’s lives. Dr Muscat said the government’s plans for a series of public private partnerships on healthcare could have been criticised by the Opposition but he was confident this would take the sector to the next level.
“We will not let naysayers stand in the way of providing our families with the best standards of healthcare possible,” he said to applause from the party faithful.
We are working to improve the situation every day
The bulk of Dr Muscat’s address focused on the government’s Budget measures. He said 160,000 would be benefiting from income tax reductions, some of which would be in excess of €200. This, he said, went over and above the average €600 families were already saving on utility bills.
About 23,000 pensioners would be benefiting from an increase that was greater than the cost of living adjustment. A further 15,000 pensioners would be benefiting through a series of other pension measures.
He referred briefly to the restoration of fortifications across the island. Several bastions, including those around the Grand Harbour and Mdina, had undergone restoration works in recent months but Dr Muscat said fixing these gems was not enough.
“I’ve been told by professionals doing the restoration that if we don’t use it we’ll lose it. Fixing these sites to never use them is not an option,” he said. To achieve this, the government was embarking on a series of other endeavours with the private sector to operate fortifications such as Fort St Elmo.
“I see huge potential here to attract big investment from locals but also from international consortiums,” Dr Muscat said.