Mellieha health care

SummerJessica wrote:

Hi all

We recently moved to Mellieha and I can't seem to find out easily if there is a polyclinic here or close by. I have a 5 year old son and I am currently 12 weeks pregnant and need to have regular access to a GP as I'm on medication for the duration of my pregnancy. I also have to have regular scans. I have an EHIC card and my husband is currently looking for work so how do I go about this? Do I have to pay privately everytime I need to see a GP in Mellieha?

If you go to your local pharmacy they will put you in touch with a GP, many have one on the premises.
EHIC cards are for tourists not residents.

Thanks for your reply. So would that mean I need to pay everytime I need to see a GP?

Have you applied for your residence card?  When you do you will need to prove some sort of health cover i.e. private health insurance.

Just to help with part of your question, take a look at
http://health.gov.mt/en/phc/Pages/Healt … inics.aspx
regarding where state clinics are and the services available.
There is also the main hospital.
Basically, healthcare at these clinics should be free if you qualify, EHIC, Entitlement certificate.  See this link:-
https://health.gov.mt/en/cbhc/Pages/Ent … ltaUK.aspx
for more info.
Treatment or consultation at most other places will cost you.
Ray

RayAucote wrote:

Just to help with part of your question, take a look at
http://health.gov.mt/en/phc/Pages/Healt … inics.aspx
regarding where state clinics are and the services available.
There is also the main hospital.
Basically, healthcare at these clinics should be free if you qualify, EHIC, Entitlement certificate.  See this link:-
https://health.gov.mt/en/cbhc/Pages/Ent … ltaUK.aspx
for more info.
Treatment or consultation at most other places will cost you.
Ray

If you hold an entitlement certificate through the RHA system your UK EHIC card ceases to be valid because you have stated you are resident here and you can not be issued with a Maltese EHIC unless you are working here and pay in to the system.

The only way to get an EHIC as a UK citizen resident in Malta is by working here and paying contributions or being a UK State Pensioner and have health entitlement through the S1 route which entitles you to have a UK issue EHIC again!

Ray

Hi SummerJessica,

welcome to Mellieha - we're in Mellieha, as well Do you like it?

As for a GP: My wife's been to the practice in the pharmacy next to ICTQ language school, in the main street near the square below the church. She went there to see the family doctor/GP when our little one (15 months old) had a bad cough, and the doctor was very nice and helpful. There are different doctors on different days, you just need to ask in the pharmacy, they can tell you more. There's also a family doctor / GP up on the hill, in the area where the school is. But we haven't needed him, yet, luckily
When my wife went to see the GP in the pharmacy, she had to pay 12 EUR, he didn't ask for an insurance card or anything.

As for whether your EHIC is still valid, this actually depends on whether you are a resident here in Malta (i.e. you've applied for residency), or you're still insured in the UK. Many people don't realise that it's not the EHIC card itself that counts, but actually being insured. I don't know how it works in the UK, but in our case (we're from Austria), our EHIC card is still valid because officially we're here in Malta as tourists, and still reside in Austria, and we pay insurance contributions in Austria (mind you, being self-employed, I pay more than 5000 EUR / year for my health insurance, and it's compulsory!) But as I said before, in private practices at least, they don't even ask for the EHIC but ask for the cash instead.

Hope that helps.
Bernie

Thanks for your replies. I am currently here short term shall we say (trying to decide whether Malta will work out for us. We haven't applied for residency yet and are waiting to see how the job hunt pans out for my husband, if he can't find work our plan is to return to the UK so at the moment we are really nothing more than long term tourists just now with the view to becoming residents if my husband finds work.

It is a culture shock at the moment but we do like it here and at the moment work is the main issue, that and how much it is going to cost me for this pregnancy it seems.

We're here short-term, too, so basically similar to your situation. We've been here for 3 months now, and we'll still be here for another 2 weeks - if you want you can pm me, if you've got any other questions, about Mellieha or Malta-life in general...

BTW: Friends of ours who live in Malta (i.e. they are residents and have lived here for 3 years) have told us they were happy with the health centre in Mosta (next to the Dome), our friend (who's had both her children in Malta), had her pregnancy checks there, and the children's health checks as well. She had both her children at Mater Dei hospital and no problems. I think it was all free, but they've got health insurance in Malta as they work here...