Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1547312
THE Health Ministry has sus- pended the outsourcing of non-complicated emergency care to private hospitals as it reviews the effectiveness of the scheme, MaltaToday has learnt. Private hospitals were in- formed last week by email that the initiative was being sus- pended pending discussions with the ministry on the way forward. The suspension of the emer- gency care public-private part- nership came after the Finance Ministry instructed all minis- tries to carry out spending re- views, sources with knowledge of the scheme said. "The public-private partner- ship was one of the budgetary items questioned by the Health Ministry since the number of patients treated at private hos- pitals fell below expectations," the sources said. When the initiative kicked off in January 2025 it was intend- ed to alleviate pressure from Mater Dei Hospital's Emergen- cy Department. Patients with non-complicated emergency cases would be redirected from Mater Dei or by the 1400 help- line operators for treatment to private hospitals. KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY 25 OCTOBER 2026 • ISSUE 1408 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY maltatoday €2.20 Productivity Paceville street life Don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour, we are now in winter time Raising productivity is Budget 2027's biggest challenge, says Chamber Vice President Silvan Mifsud MaltaToday's journalists spent a night out in Paceville INTERVIEW MT2 PAGES 7-9 Standard time CONTINUES PAGE 2 CONTINUES MT2 Budget 2027: Beyond status quo EDITORIAL CLYDE Caruana has charac- terised tomorrow's budget as one where decisions will be tak- en. "In previous budgets it was all about giving; this budget is about decisions that need to be taken," the finance minister told his host, Karl Bonaci, when interviewed on F Living last Wednesday. Caruana added: "This is what I am loving about this budget." The finance minister did not say much else to help us de- cipher what Budget 2027 will look like but there is a lot to chew on in those few words. For starters, the minister was a bit disingenuous when he said previous budgets were all about giving and had very little to do with strategic decisions. While it is true that the most signifi- cant measures were about giv- ing, the previous budgets also made strategic decisions not to disrupt, in any way, the existing economic model based on un- bridled growth. Emergency care outsourcing to private hospitals suspended Suspension follows Health Ministry spending review Private hospitals were informed last week by email that the initiative was being suspended pending discussions with the ministry on the way forward (File Photo) The Libya-Türkiye deal raising stakes in the Mediterranean PAGES 16-17