Serious shortcomings in health services – Labour

For all Gonzi's boasts of progress in the country's health services, the Prime Minister remains in denial regarding the issues of medicines which are out of stock and unavailable even from the private sector, the Labour Party's spokesperson for health said this morning.

MP Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca lashed out at the government over neglecting an issue which affects the most vulnerable members of society.

Gonzi, she said, had committed himself to address the problem of out-of-stock medicines thorough various means, including a reform of the system whereby medicines are purchased; an agency set up specifically to tackle this problem; as well increasing the list of medicines provided for free by government, among others.

Nevertheless, the problem has persisted throughout all these years. "A problem which PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil saw fit to ridicule the issue with his comments about the grocer's," Coleiro-Preca said.

The Labour spokesman added that vulnerable patients have for weeks been denied vital medicines to which they are entitled for free, often for serious, chronic ailments such as heart, cholesterol and blood-pressure conditions.

The situation is also affecting hospitals, including the St Vincent de Paule residence for the elderly. Among the currently unavailable medicines are cough mixtures and syrups; treatment for eczema, various antibiotics, medicines used for intestinal treatment (especially among the elderly), and even medicines for the treatment of cancer, such as cytosine arabinoside injections, felicanide injection and ondansetron.

Some of these products are unavailable even from the private sector, and as such the effect of this negligence on the part of the GonziPN government is directly affecting not only the most financially vulnerable, but even those who have the means to buy medicines privately.

"Once again people are rightly asking: what is happening to our taxes? What is public money being spent on, when GonziPN is unable to meet the most basic priority demand amnong the most vulnerable catgeory: the infirm?" Coleiro-Preca said.

"A new government, if elected, will reassure those people that it will be prudent with public money, in order to implement a policy will all the right priorities in place. While cutting down on waste and minimising the practice of hoarding, we intend to implement a professional system whereby medicines are distributed according to exigencies."