'No out-of-stock medicine,' Health Minister announces

There is no medicine that is currently out-of-stock, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi told parliament.

The health minister was replying to a parliamentary question tabled by Labour MP Anthony Agius Decelis.

Mizzi said the list of out-of-stock medicine amounted to 183 on 11 March 2013 – the day after the Labour Party won the general election.

“It is with satisfaction that I confirm that there is no out-of-stock medicine at Mater Dei Hospital,” Mizzi said.

He added that this was the 18th week were no out-of-stock medicine was registered under the Pharmacy Of Your Choice scheme.

On the waiting lists for cataract operations, Mizzi said that – up until 2013 – a patient used to wait for around three years. Patients “today wait for some six months”.

Some 4,332 cataract operations would have been carried out before the end of year, compared to the 2,564 operations done in 2012. The difference represents an increase of 68%, Mizzi added.

The current waiting list amounts to 1,385 patients, as opposed to 3,443 patients during the last year of a Nationalist administration, the minister said.