The healthcare budget was this year increased by €38 million, to reach €465 million, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said.

Speaking during a visit to the Medical Illustrations Unit at Mater Dei Hospital, set up recently  following an investment of nearly €200,000, Dr Gonzi said the government wanted to keep providing the best possible health care services for free.

But for this to be possible, the country’s finances had to be kept on a sound footing.

Dr Gonzi said the increased healthcare services were only possible through the recruitment of additional staff and in the past legislature the government created the right conditions for junior doctors to continue to specialise in Malta.

Unit manager Brian Cassar said medical staff were increasingly using the unit’s services to document medical conditions and patient progress during therapy.

The unit, which also has state of the art videoconferencing facilitie,s is also used by medical staff to communicate to their counterparts around the world  and by medical students to follow lectures at foreign medical hospitals.