Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1365202
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 APRIL 2021 NEWS KARL AZZOPARDI MEDICAL certificates in 2020 went down by 28,322 when com- pared to the previous year. Statistics provided by the Department of Social Securi- ty show 103,529 medical cer- tificates were filed by workers during the pandemic year. 131,851 sick leave certificates were submitted in 2019. But a decrease in sick leave certifi- cation was being registered on a yearly basis with 163,159 in 2018 and 228,300 in 2017. Social security expenditure on sick leave in 2020 stood at €5,369,544, down by €126,089 from 2019. In 2019, expenditure totalled €5,495,632, actually increas- ing by €78,718 from 2018 (€5,416,915). Spending on sick leave was the highest in 2017 at €5,917,600. In 2020, medical certificates which did not exceed four days totalled 22,642, down from 28,884 in 2019. 2017 and 2018 saw the sub- mission of 84,241 and 38,136 medical certificates for less than four days. It is important to note that in March 2018 simplification measures were introduced so that employers do not need to forward medical certificates to the Department of Social Security since it does not pay the sickness benefit in such in- stances. However, the copy of said medical certificate still needs to be forwarded to employer. Open certificates, meaning medical certification which does not have a return-to-work date, dropped by 3,660, from 16,483 in 2019 to 12,823 in 2020. 18,501 open certificates were submitted in 2017, and 18,677 in 2018. In 2019, the period of a med- ical certificate was extended from seven days to 14 days. Sick leave drops by 21% in 2020 despite COVID-19 pandemic Year F < 4 F > 4 Open Int. Final Total Expenditure 2017 84,241 29,292 18,501 79,646 16,620 228,300 €5,917,599.65 2018 38,136 29,423 18,677 60,459 16,464 163,159 €5,416,914.74 2019 28,884 31,880 16,483 40,056 14,548 131,851 €5,495,631.88 2020 22,642 29,319 12,823 28,019 10,726 103,529 €5,369,543.85 There are 5 types of medical certificates as indicated in table: F<4 means a first medical certificate which dates of sickness do not exceed 4 days. These are non-pay- ment cases by DSS. F>4 means a first medical certificate which dates of sickness exceeds 4 days but do not exceed 7 or 14 days Open means a first medical certificate which does not has a return to work date. Int. means a medical certificate which is a continuation of the open first. Final means a medical certificate which has a return to work date.