Charlot Zahra
The government has refurbished a number of dental chairs at the dental clinics at some of the health centres, only to close them and centralise everything at Mater Dei Hospital, according to Labour shadow health minister Michael Farrugia.
Farrugia yesterday revealed this during a discussion forum with the theme ‘The Future of the Health Sector’ in Malta organised by leftist organisation Żminijietna. The discussion was chaired by MaltaToday journalist James Debono.
Among the dental clinics that had been refurbished in the past two years there were those at the Mosta, the Floriana and Gzira Health Centres.
“Some of the dental clinics even had air-conditioning ordered for them,” Farrugia told the panel. “But suddenly, the dental clinics were closed down and patients will now have to go to mater Dei Hospital to get their dental appointments,” he added.
However, Farrugia explained how the dental practice at Mater Dei Hospital was “not geared towards prevention but specialist medicine.”
Farrugia accused the Nationalist government of not tackling seriously the problem of the high cost of medicines in Malta.
“Other EU countries, such as Hungary, have already tackled the problem of the rising price of medicines in a more effective way following discussion with all stakeholders,” he insisted.
In Hungary, the problem was tackled by checking the average price of medicines in six neighbouring countries. “An average was then calculated for each medicine, and following discussions with importers, prices were reduced,” Farrugia added.
Moreover, Farrugia lambasted the Nationalist government for not coming up with the national sexual health policy despite the fact that the Parliamentary Permanent Committee for Social Affairs had presented a report about a sexual health policy for Malta some years back.
“The latest annual report from the Children’s Commissioner has made the need for a sexual health policy more urgent than ever,” he insisted.
Speaking during the forum, AD spokesperson for Health Bernardette Mercieca agreed with the Labour MP’s call for the publication of a sexual health policy.
“I appeal to the government to publish the sexual health policy immediately,” Mercieca told the discussion.
GWU Secretary-General Tony Zarb told the discussion how in the last general election, both parties had promised that the health sector would remain free of charge. “However, it looks like the Nationalist Government is now forgoing that promise with the proposed public health reform,” the GWU chief charged.
“The PN had promised Malta Shipyard workers before the elections that the Yard would not have closed down,” Zarb recalled. “But at the end, the Yard closed down,” he lamented.
Likewise, Zarb added, the PN, prior to the 8 March general elections, had promised workers at GO that there would be no redundancies, and had promised ST workers that the night shift would not be removed. “However, there were redundancies at GO and at ST, the night shift had been removed,” he said.
“The latest example of the government changing its tack after the 8 March general elections was the promise he had made to hunters that they would have practiced their hobby after – despite the fact that one might not agree with their hobby,” Zarb added.
The organisers of the debate had also invited the PN to send a representative for the discussion forum, however the party made a no-show after failing to send a representative.
MUMN representative Sylvia Spiteri also took part in the discussion forum.
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