WATCH | Government to distribute Empagliflozin to 11,800 patients for free

Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela has announced Empagliflozin, commonly known as Jardiance, will be distributed for free to 4,000 heart patients as well as 300 kidney patients, on top of the 7,500 diabetes patients which already receive it for free.

Speaking on XTRA hosted by Saviour Balzan, Abela said this investment will cost an additional €2 million per year, beyond the €3 million per year to support the 7,500 patients.

Empagliflozin is a diabetes medicine used to treat type 2 diabetes which works in the kidneys, preventing the absorption of glucose. He explained this initiative is part of the government’s plan to invest in prevention and avoid future costs in healthcare.

Another initiative aimed at reducing costs and making the healthcare system more efficient is the new 1400 helpline. The minister explained this free helpline is aiding in reducing unwarranted visits by people to the emergency room.

“From the 8,000 people that used this helpline, only 2,700 were redirected to the emergency room,” the minister said. 1,800 of these were redirected to private clinics, with another 1,300 were redirected to health centres and 1,600 were redirected to primary health care.

Abela also explained another short-to-medium initiative aimed to help ease traffic at the emergency ward, saying government will be doubling the beds from 35 to 70.

The target date for the finalisation of this project is unclear as there was an appeal against the decision to cancel the €80 million euro tender. The appeal is currently being heard before the Public Contracts Review Board. He estimated that this project will be finished within three years.

Besides this expansion, Abela said that there have been other infrastructural expansions such as the new MAU wards which were finished in 2017, and the administration block will also be turned into a ward.

The minister spoke about the availability of human resources at the hospital. He reiterated that specialists are available 24/7, with resident specialists available to help the patients, even at the middle of the night.

“We have a system of fast referrals for issues pertaining to intestines, the oesophagus and the pancreas, which was introduced under Chris Fearne,” Abela said.

Shadow Minister for Health Stephen Spiteri criticised the 1400 helpline, saying there could have been other more secure and serious solutions that would have left the control of the emergency room under the hospital’s administration.

He said that if a new more efficient filtering system was introduced, emergency traffic would be reduced greatly as 60% of these cases can be handled at primary healthcare level.

He pointed out that outsourcing can be good, if done properly unlike the Vitals and Stewards concession, but patients being sent private hospitals due to long waiting lists are causing an inequality against people who can’t afford private healthcare.

He acknowledged that certain waiting lists such as radiology have decreased, but the situation has worsened for other areas such as orthopaedic.

Spiteri spoke about the current situation of the Oncology Centre, where he said patients undergoing chemotherapy should be able to skip the queues at the Oncology Centre.

“Another way to make the Oncology centre more efficient is ambulatory chemotherapy,” he argued. This means patients would be able to receive chemotherapy from the comfort of their homes.

“The Community Chest Fund should not administer and be involved as if it is part of the department of oncology as this is creating an inequality in treatment,” Spiteri said.