epilepsy

emma1979 Active member

27POSTS

12 years ago

Hi, just wondering my son has epilepsy and is on anti epileptic drugs, my husband will be working are children entitled to free medicines as in the uk or not, and does anybody have experience of neurologist/ peadiatric specialists?
Thanks

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tsultana New member

3POSTS

12 years ago

Hi Emma

I'm in a similar situation to you as I am looking to live in Malta, my wife has epilepsy and I been surfing the web for answers.

Here is a reply that I received when I emailed the people from caritasmalta.org

"As far as I am aware if you will be paying taxes in Malta and as EU citizens and residents you will be entitled to free health care in Malta as any other Maltese citizen. Moreover, epilepsy is listed as one of the conditions under the so called Schedule V (yellow card) which entities holders, irrespective of income, to free medicines under NHS for specified medical conditions ie there is no prescription fee for these medicines.

However to get hold of this schedule V card you would need to organise an appointment with a consultant neurologist at our general hospital Mater Dei Hospital (MDH). To fix this appointment at MDH, you would need a letter of referral from a GP in Malta. The best way to organise a GP is to find a pharmacy close to where you will be living and ask the pharmacist whether any GP attends the pharmacy (here in Malta community pharmacies host doctors clinics). Any GP would be able to advise you on this procedure. To date there are only 2 adult consultant neurologists, Dr Norbert Vella and Dr Josanne Aquilina. At MDH the waiting lists are what they are, so MDH may give you an appointment which would be at least 5-6 months in the future.

A possible quicker alternative would be to first get an appointment with one of these consultants privately (eg they both attend St James Clinic, Capua which has various clinics across the island stjameshospital.com/site1/ ) (NB most consultants in Malta have private practice) so they can organise everything for you without have to wait to get an appointment at MDH. Of course such a private appointment would incur a cost. Once you get the schedule V (which may take a month), you then need to register with a community pharmacy for the POYC (pharmacy of your choice scheme) in order that you can pick up your free NHS medicines from the pharmacy every 2 months. Again the consultant and the pharmacist will explain all the process for you".

I hope that helps

Kindest regards

Thomas