Equity in health care : a Maltese perspective

Abstract

Health Services everywhere are known to absorb a large share of national resources and Government health policies are increasingly directed towards setting limits on the resources allocated to Health Services. Generally, the scale of health expenditure is determined by the management of the economy and by its performance. Improving access to deprived groups of society and improving the well being of the population are the underlying objectives justifying increased public expenditure. Determining who will receive health care under what circumstances has become a controversial function of health services that will be addressed further on. [t is also becoming increasingly evident that Health is the product of a number of factors, of which availability and consumption of health services is only one. [n fact there are no causal links between levels of health care expenditure and states of health. The assumption that medicine equals health and that more medicine equals better health has recently being strongly contested.