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Matthew Vella
Health Minister Louis Deguara has expressed satisfaction at positive marks received in health consumer index where Malta was given high marks for its generosity in the public healthcare system.
Malta gained positive points for its same day service from family doctors, direct access to specialist care, and treatment of 90 per cent of its cancer patients within 21 days. Only six EU countries, Belgium, France, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, managed to provide the same service. It also scored high for its provision of cataract operations, infant polio vaccination, and dental care as part of its public service.
Deguara said the results far outweighed in significance and substance the inferior marks obtained in other categories such as patients rights, after Malta achieved a mid-table ranking in a consumer index of Europe’s best healthcare systems carried out by Swedish think-tank Health Consumer Powerhouse.
HCP said Malta’s healthcare performance was “technically… not too bad”, after it placed thirteenth among Europe’s 25 members, saying the island’s healthcare was found lacking in consumer rights and access to communication with authorities.
Deguara said that in both the HCP index and the World Health Organisation’s table of best healthcare services in the world, which ranks Malta second in the world, “both lists place Malta higher than other EU countries traditionally known for their healthcare services. This does not mean that we should be complacent.”
Deguara said the ministry will be addressing the negative points mentioned in the index, saying it is moving in the right direction.
“As regards the rights of consumers for access to information, this will be rectified by the Health Services Act that should be in place by the end of this year. With respect to access to medicines, there are currently talks underway between the government and all the stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector to solve this problem as soon as possible.”
The most worrying aspect of the index for Malta is the lowest possible mark it received when it comes to controlling the risk of MRSA, an infections which can kill someone weakened by illness, which usually occurs in hospital patients.
“Regarding the MRSA infections one cannot deny their sporadic occurrence. This is due to the fact that we only have one acute care hospital where tertiary care is provided as well as to the perennial overcrowding and the incidence of these infections, which are closely linked to an acute-care environment, is very difficult to eliminate completely. However, we have always managed to contain all outbreaks by prompt and effective measures.”
HCP said consumers in Malta lacked access to new medicines, and were very prone to MRSA infections at hospitals. The think-tank recommended that Malta ensured that everyone had access to life-saving medicines, adopt a law on patients’ rights, and curb the “rather bad situation on MRSA”.
The Euro Health Consumer Index (ECHI) was based on five indicators, namely patient rights and information, waiting times, mortality rates, the “generosity” of healthcare systems, and pharmaceuticals.
Malta scored particularly low in patient rights for lacking a patients’ rights law, fault malpractice insurance, a patient ombudsman, and access to one’s own medical record. On the upside, Maltese consumers had round-the-clock information dealing with medical questions.
A remarkable susceptibility to MRSA infection of over 20 per cent, sourced from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System, also confirmed Malta’s high incidence of MRSA.
It scored lower points on pharmaceuticals, claiming the speed of deployment of novel cancer drugs was slower than the EU average, and access to new drugs took over 300 days, referring to the time taken between registration of the drugs and an inclusion in the subsidy system.
The 2006 index, drawn together from publicly available statistics and from interviews carried out by the private Swedish company, lists France’s public healthcare system as the most user-friendly, “with a technically efficient and generously providing healthcare system”. France scored 576 out of 750 maximum points.
mvella@mediatoday.com.mt
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