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2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2026 NEWS CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Three private hospitals—St Thomas Hospital, St James Hos- pital and the DaVinci Hospi- tal—participated in the scheme with government reimbursing them the costs for treatment of patients referred to them by the specialised call centre. The only available numbers are those published in a parliamen- tary reply last October, which showed that between April 2025 and August of that same year, 1,530 patients were referred to private emergency services. This equates to an average of 300 patients per month across the three private hospitals. The cost to government stood at €512,000. But the number of patients treated in private hospitals pales into insignificance when com- pared to the around 300 patients per day that visit Mater Dei Hos- pital's Emergency Department. "The public-private partner- ship was intended to ease the pressure on Mater Dei but the actual number of referrals was too few to make any difference, prompting the ministry to ques- tion its effectiveness," the sourc- es said. However, the reason for the lack of referrals to the private hospitals is unclear. There is no publicly-available data showing how many patients were treated in each of the different hospitals until the scheme's suspension last week. In Budget 2026, the Health Ministry was allocated €15 mil- lion for outsourcing of medical services. Ostensibly, that figure covers all type of outsourcing, including surgical interventions to cut down on public health- care waiting lists. Questions to the Health Min- istry requesting the reasons for the private-public partnership suspension and information as to how many patients were re- ferred to private hospitals and the cost to government, re- mained unanswered by the time this article went to print. Emergency care referral arrangement aimed to reduce burden on Mater Dei Hospital In Budget 2026, the Health Ministry was allocated €15 million for outsourcing of medical services Malta records highest instance of food inflation outpacing minimum wage MALTA'S minimum wage work- ers suffered the worst instance of food inflation outpacing wage increases in the EU, according to an analysis compiled by Euronews Business. The analysis shows workers get- ting paid at minimum wage in Malta can buy 6% less food with their gross salary today than they could in 2021. The 6% drop was the largest re- corded in the EU, with Spain and France registering decreases of 5% and 4% respectively. These three EU member states were the on- ly countries in which minimum wage earners lost purchasing power when it comes to food. Between 2021 and 2026 food in- flation in Malta was just 1% high- er than that of the EU average of 34%. The minimum wage, how- ever, increased by just 27% in the same time period. The analysis is indicative of the higher pressures faced by low-in- come earners when inflation on essential items, such as food, out- paces wage growth. Caritas, a church organisation, recently repeated its call for gov- ernment to address the "signif- icant gap between the statutory minimum wage and the actual in- come needed to meet basic living standards." Caritas Services Coordinator Josef Pace told MaltaToday that when one looks at poverty, social inclusion, and economic justice, a distinction must be drawn be- tween minimum wage and mini- mum income. "A minimum wage refers to the legally established minimum remuneration that an employer must pay a worker. Its prima- ry purpose is to protect workers from exploitation and ensure that employment provides a basic level of financial security," Pace said. A minimum income, however, is a social protection measure in- tended to guarantee a minimum level of income for individuals and families whose available resources are insufficient to meet essential needs. Pace explained that minimum income schemes act as a safety net to "those who are unemployed, underemployed, unable to work due to illness or disability, caring for dependents, or experiencing other forms of vulnerability." Citing Caritas Europa, Pace not- ed that the relationship between the two requires consideration to raise living standards while avoid- ing disincentives for employment. He pointed toward Caritas Mal- ta's Minimum Essential Budget for a Decent Living (MEBDL) as a way of identifying a decent stand- ard of living. "The question is not solely whether people are em- ployed, but whether their income, derived from work or social sup- port, is sufficient to allow them to live with dignity and participate meaningfully in society," he said. Quoting the latest MEBDL pub- lished in 2024, Pace explained that a family composed of two adults and two children requires a min- imum annual income of €19,153 to cover essential needs and main- tain a decent standard of living. The study also found that a single parent with two dependent chil- dren requires €17,012 annually, while an elderly couple requires €14,731. Malta's minimum wage currently nets workers around €12,400 each year. This gap had been flagged back in 2016 with then-Caritas director Leonid McKay insisting that an increase in the minimum wage is essential. Reflecting on Malta's broader economic output, Pace remarked that Caritas's find- ings "challenge society to exam- ine" whether economic growth is truly benefiting all members of the community. "While em- ployment levels may be high, employment alone does not au- tomatically guarantee freedom from poverty," he said. MATTHEW FARRUGIA mfarrugia@mediatoday.com.mt Josef Pace The analysis shows workers getting paid at minimum wage in Malta can buy 6% less food with their gross salary today than they could in 2021 (File Photo)

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