While welcoming the news that the national health service will begin offering egg and sperm freezing to be used at a later stage in the IVF process, the Nationalist Party said that it is “concerned that no consultation whatsoever was held with professionals and experts in this highly sensitive field before the Government announced this development.”

In a statement the PN noted that “as happened with the recent increases in the tariffs for the registration of medicines, in this case too, health consultants were not only left out of the consultation process but, it appears, not even informed beforehand.”

Nationalist Party Leader Alex Borg who, together with Shadow Minister for Health Stephen Spiteri, visited St Thomas Hospital in Qormi, where they were received by the Director of the private hospital Dr Louis Buhagiar.

The PN Leader reiterated that the Party supports IVF, because it “supports life, and supports every solution that enables life to be created.”

However, with regard to the announcement made by the Minister for Health two days ago, he also questioned on what criteria it was decided that the service would be offered to those between the early age of 18 and 34, especially when in other countries the average age for access to this service is 31.

He added that “it is also a known fact that the need for this facility tends to increase with age, so it is unclear why individuals over 35 who wish to become parents will not benefit.”

Alex Borg also asked whether Mater Dei Hospital is equipped to offer a service of this magnitude and whether the national health system is capable of sustaining such a change.

He recalled how the Government had previously pledged to lower the mammogram screening age for women from 50 to 45, only for the plan to be abandoned once it became clear that it was not viable.

During the visit to St Thomas Hospital, the PN Leader was shown around the Emergency Department and the Radiology Department, where he also met with staff.

The hospital, which will soon be expanding to add more to its 30 additional beds, has also announced that its Emergency Department will now begin offering a 24/7 service. This decision follows an agreement earlier this year for non-critical emergency care cases to be outsourced to private hospitals in order to ease the burden on the national health service.

On this point, the management of St Thomas Hospital and the Opposition agreed on the need for public-private partnerships in healthcare not to be merely an emergency fall-back when government hospitals are overwhelmed or in a crisis, but for such cooperation to be planned, structured, and permanent.

Both sides also agreed that Malta’s major healthcare challenges must be addressed urgently, particularly the strain on hospitals caused by the country’s rapidly growing population.

They also agreed that, due to the Vitals and Steward saga, Malta has not only lost substantial funds but also precious time, when the country is in urgent need of a second hospital capable of meeting the needs of the Maltese and Gozitan people.

The PN Leader highlighted the Nationalist Party’s proposal to incentivise greater use of private healthcare services by allocating a portion of taxpayers’ National Insurance contributions towards a form of private health insurance under a future PN Government so as to ensure citizens have access to private hospitals if and when the need arises.

Accompanying Alex Borg during the visit to St Thomas Hospital were Dr Buhagiar’s two children, Dr Kristen Buhagiar – the hospital’s Medical Director and Angele Falzon, who serves as CEO.

The Healthcare First Group, which operates St Thomas Hospital, officially opened in 2016. It also runs the Good Samaritan Hospital in St Paul’s Bay and two elderly care homes – Jasmine Nursing Home and Casa Serena. The group employs around 200 people, 70 of whom work at St Thomas Hospital.

Photo: PN

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