The Maltese government wants to form some healthy contacts with the business community to support medical tourism.
To this end, the Ministry of Health in Malta has announced the establishment of a Business-Friendly Contact Desk to promote relationships and develop ventures in the health sector.
Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said the help desk will “serve as a contact point with the healthcare providers.” All private-sector health services will be able to use this new project from self-employed health operators to private clinics and hospitals, he said. The desk will advise in the development of partnerships between the public and the private health services.
Farrugia said the desk will work hand-in-hand with private health-sector stakeholders “to develop synergistic and complementary public and private health services that will lay a strong basis on which a sustainable health system will be built on a national level.”
This desk, with the collaboration of the ministries for tourism and enterprise, plans to promote medical tourism and serve as a catalyst for private healthcare providers to seek opportunities in the industry.
Cut Red Tape
The minister said that the help desk would remove some of the bureaucracy from past years by reducing administrative burdens that inhibit healthcare sustainability.
Farrugia explained how this desk is to reach out and engage with private health insurers and in partnership with the leading government institutions, unions and NGOs.
Malta has served as a popular medical tourism destination, especially for British patients because the tiny, yet densely populated archipelago offers a wide range of medical treatments, such as Ayurveda, dentistry and obesity, eye and cosmetic surgeries.
INFO: www.medicaltourismassociation.com; www.medicaltourism.com; www.medicaltourismcongress.com; www.medicaltourismmagazine.com
