Quality health care services is a right which all Gozitans should have access to – GBC

by Gozo News · April 12, 2024

Quality health care services is a right which all Gozitans should have access to - GBC The Gozo Business Chamber said that the recent developments in Gozo’s health sector “show that quality health care services for Gozitans, should not be an option, but a duty of the State, and a right which all Gozitans should have access to.”

The Chamber, in a statement on Friday, welcomed the opening of the Dar San Guzepp home for the elderly in Ghajnsielem.

The Chamber said it has always pointed out to the need for investment to be undertaken in the health care sector in Gozo, “and this important addition should continue to ensure that our elderly are well taken care of. Gozo faces specific challenges in this respect.”

It noted that according to census data Gozo has seen significant increases in the 60+ age brackets between 2011 and 2021.

According to the same data, while the old age dependency ratio in 2021 in the Malta region stood at 27.1%, in Gozo this was 33.5%. The Chamber said that it hoped that “such an investment will ensure a more equitable situation between the two islands.”

The Chamber said that this together with other recent initiatives such as the opening of the new health centre in Victoria, the new community clinic in Qala, and the new MRI machine at the Gozo General Hospital “augurs well for the island of Gozo.”

Within this context the Chamber however, also reiterated the need for a new hospital for Gozo.

It pointed out that Gozo’s population has increased from a little over 31,000 people in 2011, to a little over 39,000 people in 2021.

While noting the “exceptional services currently being provided by health care service providers in Gozo,” the Chamber said that it believes that the new hospital will help Gozo on a number of levels. “Primarily it will ensure more quality health care services to be delivered from Gozo, thus lessening the need for travel to the main island, sometimes at short notice, for sick persons,” it said.

The Gozo Business Chamber concluded by saying that “the new hospital would also complement the activities of the medical school of the Queen Mary University in Gozo.”