The Coeliac Association Malta has said that as coeliac disease is recognised as a chronic illness, those diagnosed through a biopsy as being coeliacs qualify for benefits under Schedule V (il-Kartuna s-Safra); however, instead of receiving free medication they used to receive free gluten free food from Health Centres on a monthly basis.

Since February 2015, the system was changed and coeliacs now receive vouchers which are exchangeable for a limited range of food items from specific retail outlets/supermarkets.

The Association, in a statement, stressed that while it is definitely not against the vouchers, from inception it had informed the competent authorities that, with coeliacs buying the gluten free food directly, any price increase would effectively mean a reduction in their purchasing power; in short, an increase in cost would be borne by the patient and not by the Government.

It added tjat “the Government, on the other hand, sustained that by the introduction of vouchers, the market was being liberalised; there would be more competition and prices for gluten free would – in the long run – fall not rise. There is no need to clarify that this was merely “Utopian,” indeed, over the years, prices for gluten free food never fell but increased gradually.”

Coeliac Association Malta pointed out that it does not have access to cost of living official data, “however, if what the local media is reporting is accurate, the cost of food items had already increased by over 9% and continued to rise in recent weeks.”

“Undoubtedly, this is seriously undermining the purchasing power of the vouchers and effectively means that coeliacs have to fork out much more money themselves to buy gluten free food which is already exorbitantly high,” it said.

Coeliac Association – Malta said that it feels the necessity to emphasise that coeliacs are the “sole category of patients registered and receiving chronic illness related benefits under Schedule V who are experiencing the anomaly whereby their benefits are being eroded; unfortunately, this is discriminatory and, to add insult to injury, nothing is being done about it.”

The Association insisted that it is “very much aware as well as greatly concerned that this situation is causing hardship to coeliacs but, in particular, to those who have limited means and those who, in addition, suffer from other illnesses and need to buy additional medication.”

“Under these circumstances, we cannot but strongly urge the Government to honor its electoral promise to take care of coeliacs by revising the value of the vouchers, thus eliminating unnecessary hardship,” the Association said.

Permalink: Anomaly in POYC benefits received by coeliacs as prices rise – CAM