Primary health care to focus on prevention

The main objective of the proposed reforms in the primary care sector will be to refocus the primary health care services towards preventive care, Health Minister Louis Deguara told a conference organised by the Primary Health Care Department.

The reforms will redirect the work of health care professionals in the health centres from one which deals with routine administrative issues and basic curative care to one where the service provision will concentrate more on health promotion and disease prevention.

This, to date, has not been possible because of the short consultation period currently available to health care professionals dictated by the quantitative approach to health centre management.

"We must abandon the quantitative model and concentrate more on a qualitative one", said the minister.

This concept requires the progressive reconsideration of the provision of certain non-essential medical services currently being provided from the health centres, and redirect valuable professional time towards health promotion and disease prevention.

These changes will allow the development of more specialised clinics in health centres where a comprehensive, holistic approach to patient care can be provided by a multi disciplinary team of health care professionals, Dr Deguara said.