MP says health sector is not a ‘political ballgame’

Opposition MP Claudio Grech today said that the health sector should be treated delicately and “should not be used to gain political brownie points.”

During the latest in a series of meeting with stakeholders, Grech said "It is not a ballgame and should not be treated as such.”

Speaking during a meeting with the Medical Association of Malta (MAM) at the party's headquarters in Pieta, he said that "during the past few months, we have been drafting up a portfolio of a new set of policies which we feel can contribute positively to the health sector."

Grech also told MAM president Gordon Caruana Dingli and secretary-general Martin Balzan that the PN feels that discussion on the health sector should not be limited to the months preceding elections and talks between political parties and stakeholders should not be intended to earn electoral support.

“On the contrary, our intention in setting up these meetings is to maintain good relationships and improve where could be improved,” Grech said. “The work that we do now can determine where we would be in a few years’ time.”

He said that there was need for sustainability in the sector, as outlined in recommendations made by the European Union.

In a short intervention, Caruana Dingli thanked Grech for the chance to have discuss certain issues. He stressed that the ultimate focus should always be on the patient and that any measures should be scrutinised to determine in what ways they will affect them.

The rest of the meeting was held behind closed doors.