James Debono
Forty per cent of Maltese people think that they are at risk of being harmed when in hospital, and 23% claim that family members have faced cases of malpractice while receiving health care.
This emerges from a Eurobarometer survey in which respondents from all EU member states were asked whether they or their family members had ever experienced an “adverse event” when receiving healthcare..
The survey shows that an even higher number of EU citizens (26% compared to 23% in Malta) have faced adverse events while receiving health care. Moreover, exactly half of the EU’s citizens (50%, compared to 40% in Malta) also feel at risk of being harmed when receiving health care.
Respondents in Malta are much less apprehensive about the risk posed by hospital care than respondents in Greece, where 83% fear malpractice while in hospital.
But the Maltese are more apprehensive than Austrians, 19% of whom fear adversity while in hospital.
Hospital infection is the most feared risk in Malta, to the extent that 61% consider this risk to be likely. A further 43% think surgical errors are likely.
Despite these shortcomings, 81% of Maltese regard the overall healthcare service in their country to be good. This is 11% higher than a EU average of 70%. The Maltese health system gets the eleventh highest score among the EU27 when judged by its citizens.
The worse rated health systems are those in Greece and Romania, rated positively by just 25% of respondents.
On the other hand, 97% of respondents from Belgium consider healthcare quality in their country as good, followed by respondents in Austria (95%) and Finland (91%),
After rating the healthcare in their own country, respondents were asked to compare the quality of their country’s healthcare with that in other member states.
Only 15% think that Malta’s health system is worse than that of other EU countries. 26% of Maltese think it is better, and 37% think it is the same.
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