Opposition and government engage in ‘Punch & Judy’ tactics over health

Opposition spokesperson Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said the lack of political strategy in the health sector, and the lack of planning in the building of Mater Dei hospital, are not only creating health risks to the patients which are left stranded in the corridors, but it is stripping them off of their dignity.

“This situation is unacceptable,” Coleiro Preca said. “Government cannot go on creating cosmetic solutions which are leading nowhere.”

Referring to the Discharge Lounge, Coleiro Preca said it is time to seriously face the overcrowding problem which “government has brought upon itself”.

In a reply, government claimed opposition is still tied to “outdated systems and practices” and opposes changes for the better.

“With the introduction of the Discharge Lounge, our country is keeping up with modern measures used in world-wide hospitals, such as those in England, America and Australia,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry said that thanks to this system, discharged patients will no longer stay in the ward, making room from another patients admitted to the hospital.

“The opposition wants that, instead of going to the Discharge Lounge, the person is kept in a hospital bed when it is not clinically necessary.”

Government also claimed the opposition is expressing scepticism on the need to build a new oncology centre. It reminded that the new centre will hold 96 beds for cancer patients.

“From the beginning, the opposition showed scepticism on the improvement and the investment in the health sector, decrying the new hospital as an ‘extravagance’”.

The Ministry went on to quote the number of persons admitted to Mater Dei last year: 53,528 persons were admitted, 33,586 made use of the Day Care Units, 496,503 persons visited the out-patients ward, whilst 185,307 tests were carried out in the Radiology Department.