EU membership and Malta's healthcare system

Abstract

The European Union (EU) and healthcare are two very important topics in Malta. In spite of this, the link between the two is fairly underestimated with the general public and requires more attention. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to analyse how EU membership has affected Malta’s healthcare system by delving into the improvements and the implications faced after membership took place. Healthcare is a crucial sector for any country to be able to function, and the need to constantly keep up to date with the latest developments, both from the medical field and from international developments, is critical. In the past few years, healthcare has been taken for granted by many. Having said this, the Covid-19 pandemic has served as a reminder to everyone that nothing is more important than one’s health and that the healthcare sector should always be kept at the top of the agenda for any country. In recent years, the EU has taken diverse decisions to be more hands on when it comes to healthcare policy and developments. At first, member states were not happy with these decisions as they always saw healthcare as something which is mostly relevant to the nation itself and therefore should only be in the hands of the respective governments. However, accession in the EU does not mean that member states get to choose which sectors become supranational and which sectors do not, therefore the healthcare sector is no exception. Nonetheless, to reach a compromise the EU decided that most of the main healthcare decisions remain in the hands of the governments of the member states. Meanwhile, the EU is now more involved in the healthcare process and developments and more attentive towards the developments being contrived by its member states. This dissertation focuses on two main timelines - the pre-EU and the post-EU accession. The reasoning behind this is to be able to bring out the differences between the two timelines to fully understand the changes which took place. Furthermore, the research will also be analysing different literatures and statistical data to be able to formulate a conclusion. This study has concluded that EU membership has indeed improved the local healthcare system. The main cause of the improvements has resulted to be the allocation of funds by the EU which have granted Malta the possibility to conduct various projects. On the other hand, two main implications on Malta’s healthcare system following accession to the EU resulted to be illegal immigration and the free movement of persons. If no responsible actions are taken from both the EU and the Maltese authorities to lessen the consequences which these implications are leaving on Malta’s healthcare system, the healthcare system, as we know it today, might not be sustainable much longer.