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The Ministry for Health is launching a public consultation meeting on the New Health Act. The meeting will be held on Thursday the 26
th of September 2013 at the Central Auditorium – Mater Dei Hospital at 18.30hrs.
The general public and all health care professionals are being invited to attend.
The New Health Act was passed through its second reading by the Minister for Health during the last sitting before the Parliament adjourned for summer recess.
The new Health Act provides a solid, yet flexible legislative foundation to health services in Malta and will be addressing the current lacunae in our legislation on health services in Malta.
The new Health Act is a milestone in the health sector, as it will replace and repeal the outdated and incomplete previous act, the Department of Health (Constitution) Ordinance, dating back to 1937.
This outdated Health Act makes reference to organisational structures and nomenclatures which are no longer in use, but also it does not provide for the legal underpinning of important facets of modern health service provision.
The Act addresses mainly the Organisational Structure, Healthcare benefits and Entitlement, and Patients’ Rights and Safety.
As regards the organisational structure, the new Health Act clearly defines and separates the three fundamental roles related to service provision, policy making and regulation.
The Act outlines the mission, main functions and powers of each of these fundamental roles.
It also re-establishes the Council of Health to serve as the formal mechanism to advise the Minister on any matter affecting health in Malta.
When addressing Health benefits and entitlement, the new Health Act provides for the setting up of an Advisory Committee on Healthcare benefits, putting in place a formal and transparent mechanism for the establishment and review of the list of services included in the national basket of care.
This register will include all the benefits, services, interventions and treatments provided by the public healthcare system, and the fees corresponding to them.
After all, this Directive presupposes the existence of a clear and sound legal basis defining entitlement to healthcare together with a defined package of healthcare services.
The only local legislation, apart from the Social Security Act and the Medicines Act, which refers to entitlement to free healthcare, is the Fees Ordinance. This is outdated and contains anomalies that need to be addressed to take on the new realities of European Union membership, as well as to reflect the actual costs of health services to be charged to non insured (exempt) persons.
This part of the new Health Act will replace and repeal the mentioned Fees Ordinance (Legal Notice 201/2004).
This Health Act will definetly also serve as a legislative vehicle through which to transpose, inter alia, the European Union Directive on Patients’ Rights and Cross Border Health Care.
It also serves as a legislative vehicle to codify a basic set of rights, amongst which are the maximum timeframes for medical and surgical interventions.
In line with the Government’s electoral proposal, the Act sets the legislative instrument for the adoption of a comprehensive Charter of Patients’ Rights and Responsibilities within a period of two years of the coming into force of this particular part of the new Health Act.
