The Medical Association (MAM) this morning expressed objections to the proposed reform of the primary health care system and the way the consultation process is being conducted.

The reform, lunched on Saturday, is based around a patient registration system with family doctors.

The doctors' union said that while it remained convinced that there was a need for reform to strengthen the personal relationship between the patient and his family doctor it was disappointed that the process of consultation was intrinsically flawed.

"The government should have first found a consensus position with the various members of the medical profession and then embarked on a public consultation. The current process will lead to great and unnecessary confusion amongst patients which will send the plans back to the drawing board," the association said.

It also said that it found "completely unacceptable" the exclusion of government-employed doctors from the process of registration.

"It seems that the government is abrogating its responsibility to introduce an efficient public health service, where there is a personalized care," it said.

The MAM said the concept of regional hubs manned by doctors who knew nothing about the patient was of very dubious validity as they would not be able to filter patients for accident and emergency.

Furthermore, it was also completely unacceptable to expect private doctors to provide a 24 hour service 7 days a week to patients, if they were to be effective gatekeepers in the proposed system.

The association said it had long prepared its position on the proposed reform and was ready to work with the authorities to find credible solutions to the current problems.

"MAM feels that the current document as 'work in progress' needing a significant number of changes to be acceptable to all of the medical profession," it said.

See also:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091206/local/more-powers-to-be-given-to-family-doctors