The Malta College of Family Doctors and the Association of Private Family Doctors have said that family doctors can to more if they are given more detail.

In a statement on Thursday, the MCFD and the APFD said that they see the upcoming budget as a step towards fulfilling this pledge, particularly as political parties acknowledged the same in their political manifestos for the last general election.

The MCFD and the APFD pointed out that as society learns to live again after the Covid- 19 pandemic, family doctors are “facing unmet needs from patients who were afraid to approach medical services in the past years, whilst a number of important medical services have not yet reached the previous level of activity.”

The two Voluntary Organisations said that they are encouraging decision makers to:

– fully roll-out the national electronic patient health records for primary care; – improve communication between primary and secondary care by investing in the digital interfaces needed to put all patient information from different medical sections available online;

– make digital services already available to the general population also available for residents in the Homes for the Elderly;

– create a route for all family doctors to be able to apply for free (Schedule V) medication on behalf of their patients;

– make more investigations available to all family doctors;

– increase the expenditure in preventive health services; and

– make shortcuts to bureaucratic triangulations.

The organisations concluded by saying that all the above would on one hand improve the patient experience of the health service as they would decrease the number of stops needed and days taken off work to access health services, and on the other hand shift expenses from the relatively more expensive secondary hospital care services to the relatively less expensive primary care services.

The Malta College of Family Doctors (MCFD) is a Voluntary Organisation that said “strives to improve the academic and clinical performance of family doctors (known as “it- tobba tal-familja” or “general practitioners”) and the standards of primary health care in our country.”

The Association of Private Family Doctors (APFD) is a Voluntary Organisation that said “strives to improve family medicine and primary health care in our country on behalf of the private family doctors (known as “it-tobba tal-familja” or “general practitioners”) and their patients.”

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