News 21/07/2002

Confirmation: Louis Buhagiar’s medical fees queried by UK insurance companies

By Kurt Sansone

Fresh New evidence collated by MaltaToday confirms that British medical emergency insurance companies are very concerned with the exorbitant rates being charged by Maltese private hospitals and doctors, particularly the ones charged by Labour MP Prof. Louis Buhagiar. The insurance companies claim that the fees are higher than anywhere else outside the USA and Canada.

This newspaper is informed that for the past two years a number of British insurance companies have been questioning the charges levied in Malta on unsuspecting tourists, who require emergency medical help while on holiday.

On 5 May this newspaper revealed that a handful of Maltese doctors were the subject of an insurance probe in the UK. The insurance companies could not understand why Malta is medically more expensive than other Mediterranean resorts including Spain and Gibraltar. Prof. Buhagiar’s name was not mentioned in this article. Nevertheless, the Labour MP instituted libel proceedings against this newspaper.

However, Prof. Buhagiar is known to charge exorbitant fees for his medical services. On 21 April this year MaltaToday revealed that the Small Claims Tribunal had deemed the fee he charged the relatives of a terminally ill patient as ‘excessive’.

In its decision handed down in January this year, the Small Claims Tribunal concluded that the rate of Lm60 per day, requested by Prof. Buhagiar for services given to a terminally ill patient, hospitalised at Capua Hospital for five days, was ‘excessive’.

His fee was eventually reduced to Lm50 per day, which amounted to a total saving of Lm50 for the patient’s relatives on the final bill.

Sources in the Labour Party describe Prof. Buhagiar’s habit of charging high medical fees as an embarrassment to the party that is supposed to represent workers. Nonetheless, party officials have always maintained their silence on the issue.

More details on this case will emerge in next week’s issue of MaltaToday.