Budget for Health in 2010 was 285 million .
Budget for Health in 2011 was 302 million
Budget for Health in 2012 was 326 million
Total Government income was 3275 million(GDP)
Total expenditure on Health as a percentage from GDP is in the region of 9.9% ( 2010 8%)
Germany 11.6% , Australia 8.7% Belgium 10.7% Latvia 6.7%Poland 7.5% Irland 9.2% Italy 9.5% Greece 10.2% Lithuania 7% Portugal 11% Denmark 11.4% France 11.9% Finland 9% .
How much money a country can afford to pay for its Health Services depends on its economic stability . If its earning power diminishes ( GDP goes down) then the country would have to cut down on its health and social services .The fact that Malta has maintained and increased its total expenditure on Health means a healthy economy . The fact that Malta has introduced new services and is embarking on new projects ( My Health , Oncology hospital , St Philips , new Ophthalmic apparatus, Refurbishment projects etc) means that the future economic prospects are pretty good .
Hospital Beds .
According to euro stat ,the total number of hospital beds per 100,000 population in Malta is 450.5 the number of beds available in other countries is Cyprus 368 ,France ,642 ,Italy 352 ,Greece 315 ,Ireland 313.9,Estonia 533.1, Germany 824.8 Denmark349 Netherlands 465 ,Austria 762.9,Portugal 334.Sweden 272 , United kingdom 295.5 .This means that we compare well with other neighbouring countries .
Again according to Eurostat the total number of Curative care beds(acute care) in hospitals per 100,000inhabitant,in,Malta.is..269.0 .Ireland ,Finland ,UnitedKingdom ,Sweden ,Norway ,Turkey ,Spain .These have less acute care beds than we have . These statistics should indicate that these countries have the same problems as we have in terms of bed supply but probably have a better bed turnover and post-hospital community care which takes the pressure from their hospitals .
Health Life Years and Life Expectancy at age 65 females
.This indicator tells us the life expectancy of a female after she turns 65 years . Obviously the better the health services in a country the better is the life span . Well Malta fares better than Greece , Spain, France , Italy , Cyprus ,Latvia, Lithuania , Netherlands, Austria ,Poland. Germany ,Norway ,UK are better than us .
One Eurostat number which impressed me was the " self reported unmet need for medical examination or treatment " . This is actually the number of clients who for various reasons ,cost waiting times ,unavailable service did not get the desired service . Well from the statistics it turns out that Malta fares much better than countries like Greece France Italy Cyprus Latvia Hungary Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia,Switzerland ,Germany .
All these numbers mean nothing for the person who is at the Doctor waiting hours for treatment . They mean nothing for that person who has received an appointment with his gastrenterologist for 2014 . But for us these numbers mean a lot .It gives us an indication where we are going wrong and where we should concentrate our resources .It makes us ask important comparative questions . Why is a country doing better than us ? Do we have to change work practises to the ones being taken by other neighbouring countries ? What are the advantages and disadvantages of taking on board other countries systems ? Are people getting healthier or more sick? Which Disease do we have to tackle in more detail ?These are simple basic questions which we have to answer. This helps us build a long term strategy plan based on numbers and future projections ,the ultimate aim being the quality of life of our population .
When one considers everything ,all the problems associated with our specific Health Service both government and private care . the waiting times ,the outpatient appointments , hip ,knee, cataract operations , we can still say that we have good statistical evidence that our service is one of the best (5th ).We have tackled most of the above problems .We have reduced the number of patients waiting for hip/knee /cataract operations . We now have to concentrate on other specific problems associated with our health service.We are using Health centres for outpatient services and now we are using afternoon sessions in theMater Dei outpatient department as well . This will reduce the outpatient workload as well as reduce appointment times.
The ultimate aim is a better efficient health service. We have been successful throughout these years .If one looks at the number of operations done this year , the number of outpatient visits , the number of patients visiting health centres ,one immediately feels satisfied with all of this . We need to do more and we need to reach into the community and get to every single client .We cannot wait for the client to come to us but we have to go to the client . This is Preventive Medecine .Breast Clinic has been a tremendous success and the upcoming colorectal screening is also a challenge .That is our concern and our ultimate goal.
Michael Gonzi
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
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