Committee to investigate claims of doctors disobeying government policy

The health ministry has set up a committee to investigate claims that doctors employed in health centres are unnecessarily referring patients to Mater Dei, increasing the general hospital’s workload and going against the government’s declared policy that patients should receive attention at polyclinics whenever possible.

The Independent on Sunday reports that the ‘Peer Review GP Committee’, was established following complaints that people who went to polyclinics with minor problems were not being treated, but referred to Mater Dei hospital, where they would have to wait for hours because their injuries were not emergencies.

Some patients who confided with the newspaper said the health centres were well equipped to deal with minor ailments, but instead wound up at Mater Dei, where they had to wait for hours. One patient referred to the billboard set up months ago with a plastered finger, telling people to avoid going to the Emergency Department if they could be treated at a polyclinic. “We did as we were told, but we were still sent to Mater Dei.”

The health ministry’s Primary Health Care unit has now set up to committee to investigate these allegations. The ministry said that “general practitioners are morally and ethically bound, as in any other medical profession, to offer the best of service to patients according to their abilities.”

“The Department of Primary Health Care has always issued memos to remind doctors of this obligation towards patients.”

The committee will try to establish whether doctors employed in polyclinics are being negligent in their duties or simply preferring to pass on the responsibility to others, the newspaper said.