Tonio Borg, former European commissioner for health | Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images
This is why the island’s obesity problem may threaten the free access to health care for everyone.
“Everything is free in Malta,” said former European Commissioner for Health Tonio Borg, speaking to POLITICO at a famous cafeteria in downtown Valletta. “The time will come when someone will have to introduce fees [for health care services] in Malta,” he said.
The island’s two major political parties have shied away from charging fees because the political cost would be enormous. That reluctance may have to give, said Borg, who is also a former home affairs and foreign affairs minister as a member of the Nationalist Party, now in opposition.
He deplored that one burger is cheaper than three apples in Malta, as in many other European countries. Taxation of unhealthy food hits consumption, but it takes courage from governments to do that, said the former EU health commissioner.
Start them young
That would be hard to do in Malta, which imports much of its food, said Charmaine Gauci, director general and superintendent for public health at the Maltese health ministry. That’s why EU rules on food reformulation and advertising of food to children, for example, could bring more added value: It would regulate food products across the 28 member countries and help the small island in the process, she said.
“We do have a policy that high-fat foods cannot be advertised during children’s programs,” she said. But such products are still advertised on regular TV programs between 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., when the whole family is often in front of the TV, Gauci said.
Source link : https://www.politico.eu/article/maltas-health-system-and-waistlines-feel-the-strain/
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Publish date : 2017-04-10 07:00:00
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