The Maltese healthcare system
The Maltese healthcare is funded through taxation and national insurance and operates through public hospitals and health care centers. There is no mandatory system of contribution, which means that employees and employers pay weekly national insurance contributions, funding the healthcare service as well as other social services like pensions. The state fund covers most medical services, including treatment by specialists, hospitalization, prescriptions, pregnancy, childbirth and rehabilitation. Maltese citizens have to pay for their prescription medicine unless they belong to one of the vulnerable groups of society.
For all these reasons, we can affirm that Malta has an excellent standard of state funded healthcare counting with a well trained medical staff.
EU members who are temporary living in Malta, also benefit from the direct access to health care, but only upon presentation of the European Health Insurance Card together with an identification document. Nevertheless, in case these documents are not available or the patient is a Non-EU citizen, health care bills must be paid in full prior to leaving the health care facility.
The Mater Dei Hospital is Malta's primary hospital established in 2007. St Luke's Hospital, based in Pieta`, is the second important hospital that provides a full range of services. These include psychiatric treatment, transplant and open-heart surgery. One may find other government hospitals in Malta like the Paul Boffa Hospital (an oncology hospital in Floriana), St Vincent De Paule Hospital (a geriatrics hospital) or the Gozo General Hospital (the only hospital on Gozo).In Malta you can also find a variety of local clinics, CommCare Assessment Unit (CAU), Consultants, Emergency Care and Pharmacies situated all over the country.
In recent years an increasing number of citizens obtained private healthcare insurance and some choose to use private GP and Consultants’ services on a ‘pay as you go’ scheme. Care in these private facilities is funded by private insurance or out-of-pocket payments. In Malta one may find three private centres provided by independent office-based doctors and specialists. The premises, equipment and personnel are funded by the doctors themselves and through private insurance contributions. The private sector may be considered as better equipped than the state sector and treats in-and-out patients. Private health care thrives in this country and coexists with the state system.
In addition, the University of Malta also holds a medical school and a Faculty of Health Sciences, the latter offering diploma, degree (BSc) and postgraduate degree courses in a number of health care disciplines. Medical system is regulated by The Medical Association of Malta who represents practitioners of the medical profession. One may find other associations related with medical students like MMSA (Maltese medical students association) or MIME (Maltese Institute for Medical Education).