The government is planning to increase the number of round-the-clock health centres in Malta from three to five, the Health Minister said on Saturday.
Jo Etienne Abela told interviewer Andrew Azzopardi on RTK103 that the government was waiting for building and equipment standards certification confirming that the new Southern Regional Hub in Paola could start welcoming patients.
The Paola health centre - together with the Mosta and Floriana centres - provides 24/7 outpatient care.
Abela said the government wanted to operate an additional two such centres but did not mention the proposed locations.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister urged against scaremongering over the government's call to the private sector to outsource emergency care.
Mater Dei Hospital is currently struggling to keep up with the demands of Malta’s increasing population, with Abela previously telling Times of Malta he wanted the main hospital to be freed of all outpatient services and instead focus on emergency and longer-term inpatient care.
Among others, he plans on doubling the size of the emergency department. Mater Dei currently has 35 service cubicles within its emergency department and the plan is to increase it to 70 to 90 cubicles by extending the department into existing areas at the hospital and by physically enlarging its footprint.
Earlier this month, the government also issued a call to private hospitals to outsource care, in the hope that the initiative, which will operate on a 24/7 basis, will ensure the provision of publicly funded emergency services.
'Outsourcing care not crisis management'
The announcement was slammed, among others, by former PD leader and doctor at a private hospital Anthony Buttigieg, who said the government was putting people's lives at risk by asking them to decide whether to seek urgent medical care at a private hospital or Mater Dei.
The PN also said the call was the result of a lack of planning by Robert Abela's government.
But on Saturday, Abela said outsourcing care was not crisis management.
The idea had been in the pipeline since he took over the heath portfolio: "We've been wanting to involve the private sector in the provision of accident and emergency services for a while now. This is not management crisis.
"On January 15, I met representatives from the private sector at my office and I told them we wanted to involve them more."
Abela added the authorities were also looking into tweaking the procedure employed to review cases at A&E, such as having a specialist consultant see the patient immediately, rather than waiting until a nurse and a junior doctor have examined the patient.
COVID at SVPR?
Abela also addressed concerns about COVID-19 cases at St Vincent De Paul long-term care facility.
"COVID cases have increased everywhere, but the virus is not more dangerous than before.
"There is no need for alarm. We would be alarmed if cases start ending up in ITU," the minister said, adding that the local authorities were monitoring the situation in Malta and abroad.
He said that when social media users recently expressed concern about COVID cases at SVPR, which hosts 1,500 residents, there were a total of seven patients with COVID in isolation.
Four of them were being released from isolation the following day.
'All substance abuse is toxic'
Abela was also asked for a reaction to comments to Times of Malta by clinical toxicologists about a new trend in admissions of patients with persistent severe vomiting due to long-term use of cannabis.
He noted that people should be better informed about the use of any kind of substance.
"All substances - including water - can be toxic if abused. If cannabis is abused, it is undoubtedly toxic," he said, noting that care provided to people who abused substances could improve if mental health care was physically brought closer to physical health care facilities.
Abela announced he was scrapping plans for a new mental health hospital in March, saying that inpatient mental health care will instead be provided from within Mater Dei.