06 Jun Healthcare in Malta
Malta is ranked 7th in Europe and 12th in the world for its healthcare.
Public healthcare in Malta is not free. Both Maltese locals and expats pay an “insurance” fee that allows them to use the healthcare service without having to pay directly in the moment of need. There are, therefore, so-called “health insurances”.
The country’s public insurance, the National Insurance, guarantees all citizens and residents the right to take advantage of the national healthcare service. For each family nucleus, or individual contributor, a small weekly fee of about 16€ is deducted from each salary. When a foreign citizen starts working in Malta, a Social Security Number must be issued in order to register the employment contract. This code is the tax paying individual’s identifier. It allows authorities to ascertain an individual’s (or the family nucleus’) good standing with the tax revenue office and the national healthcare insurance. This will ensure that all hospital emergency and hospitalization services can be used free of charge when needed.
The main source of pride of Malta’s healthcare service is most definitely its hospitals. The main public hospital is the Mater Dei, opened in 2007. Their Healthcare Service has the Centru tas-sahha emergency room and various specialized departments. It could be considered as the “patriarch” of the various Maltese public health centres, called Ċentru tas-saħħa. These are facilities where you can find general practitioners and/or have specialist visits. They work as branches of the Mater Dei, to which you will be redirected in case one of these centres does not have a particular service you might be in need of. To find out which health centre is your area just click on Health Centres in Malta.
There are many private facilities in Malta. These hospitals offer general or specialist visits, with the obvious benefit of skipping the wait time that comes with public service. The most famous is certainly the Saint James Hospital.
For the residents of Malta there is a special government service known as the POYC. The Pharmacy Of Your Choice is a synchronous system between pharmacies, doctors and patients. It was especially designed for those suffering from chronic conditions or in need of long-term therapies. The doctor prescribes a therapy, said therapy is reported to the presidium of the government that, in turn, sends the documentation to the patient’s home. This documentation must be taken to the local trusted pharmacy. Every week the government will send the pharmacy everything necessary for the patient’s therapy and the pharmacist will work to prepare everything. The patient will have to go and collect everything once it is ready, but totally free of charge.