The Maltese Healthcare System: Public Care, Access for a Foreigner, Health Centres, Hospitals and Emergencies

The CLEISS describes a universal scheme with two components, one contributory, funded by contributions, the other non-contributory, funded by the State, which offers “a complete range of services to all persons residing in Malta” (page of 2020). The Ministry of Health steers the system, sets the standards and defines the package of care, and the Ministry of Finance allocates the budget. Public care is funded by taxation; the private sector exists in parallel, with direct payment by the patient and, possibly, reimbursement by their insurance.

The services covered include primary care and prevention, specialist and diagnostic services, hospital care and emergencies, certain medicines, rehabilitation and home care (CLEISS, 2020). The Malta country page presents health insurance by status.

The Entitlement Unit, the Maltese unit in charge of entitlement to care, registers the relevant documents. According to its portal, people covered by Maltese social security legislation, holders of a valid EHIC or an S1 and people entitled to care under Maltese law have access to public care. The CLEISS states that those insured are Maltese citizens and residents who contribute because of an occupational activity, together with their children up to 16 and their dependent spouse.

• Employee or self-employed person: contributing to Maltese social security opens the right to public care; the scales are in the page on working in Malta.
• Retiree or long-term seconded employee: the Entitlement Unit portal asks you to have the S1 form registered with the original of the form, the passport, the residence document and photocopies. The unit then issues an entitlement certificate, to be shown at each visit to the hospital or health centre. It gives access to public services, as an inpatient and as an outpatient (Identità, the Maltese agency for residence documents).
• Temporary stay: the EHIC gives access to necessary care. Identità states that it does not count as proof of insurance for a lasting move: it covers only access to medically necessary care during a temporary stay.
• Without an activity: to obtain their residence document, a person without employment shows comprehensive health insurance in Malta, an S1 or an entitlement certificate (Identità); see the page on living in Malta.

The certificate is collected from the Entitlement Unit, located in Gwardamangia, near St Luke’s Hospital, on presentation of the Identità biometric receipt and the S1; the unit also replies by email.

The CLEISS indicates that patients freely choose their general practitioner and that no compulsory registration is required (page of 2020). In the public sector, a specialist is seen on the GP’s prescription; in the private sector, access is direct and paid for. Outside emergencies, access to public clinics is organised by residential area (CLEISS, 2023).

• Ten health centres: B’Kara, Cospicua, Floriana, Gzira, Kirkop, Mosta, Paola, Qormi, Rabat and Victoria (Primary Health Care). The Paola centre offers, among other things, general medicine consultations, vaccination, X-rays from Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 7 pm, physiotherapy for people aged 16 and over with a musculoskeletal disorder, and an infant follow-up service.
• Booking an appointment: the centres can be reached on 21231231 and 21222444.
• Specialist consultations: again in Paola, clinics for diabetes, electrocardiogram, glaucoma screening, ophthalmology, podiatry, wound care and gynaecology operate by appointment; referral to some of them goes through the centre’s doctor or the family doctor, who fills in a referral form. The vaccination clinics see people without a prescription, from Monday to Friday from 7.30 am to 1.30 pm and on Saturday morning, after a call to the centre (Primary Health Care).
• Benefits: public care is fully covered by health insurance, including the specialist consultation in the public sector (CLEISS, 2023).

The CLEISS lists among public hospitals Mater Dei Hospital, an acute care facility in Msida, the Gozo general hospital, the Mount Carmel psychiatric hospital and the Karin Grech rehabilitation hospital. Hospital admission takes place on the doctor’s prescription, and no patient contribution is required in a public hospital (CLEISS, 2023).

• Emergencies: 112 is the ambulance number. Emergency care and necessary care are free for people who are entitled to care, in hospital as well as in health centres (Entitlement Unit).
• Switchboards: Mater Dei Hospital +356 2545 0000; Gozo general hospital +356 2156 1600 (Entitlement Unit).
• Specialised care: a person who needs dialysis, oxygen therapy or chemotherapy during their stay books an appointment in advance, these services being free on presentation of the EHIC or proof of entitlement (Entitlement Unit).
• Embassy: the French embassy in Valletta can be reached on +356 2778 1747 (France Diplomatie, the French foreign ministry).

The CLEISS describes free access to medicines on a list for people on low incomes and for people with certain chronic or malignant diseases (respiratory diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases). Other insured people pay the selling price, except during a hospital stay and the three days that follow (CLEISS, 2023). The health centres host consultations dedicated to this scheme, called “Schedule V clinics” (Primary Health Care).

• Dental: most dental treatment is not covered by public health insurance and is billed by private dentists, except urgent care provided at the public hospital. Schoolchildren receive preventive, restorative and orthodontic care, and social assistance recipients can access free care (CLEISS, 2023). Emergency dental care is free for people who are entitled to care, at Mater Dei and in the health centres; access to public dental care remains limited (Entitlement Unit).
• Optical: the official sources consulted do not describe general cover of glasses for adults; the optical budget depends on any supplementary insurance.

Prenatal and postnatal care is free, and childbirth in a public hospital is fully covered for insured women (CLEISS, 2023). The health centres hold infant clinics: three routine visits are offered, at 8-12 weeks, 8 months and 18 months. Vaccinations in the national children’s schedule are free for Maltese residents; other vaccines, prescribed by a doctor and bought by the patient, are administered free of charge on presentation of the prescription, and the vaccination record must be brought so that it can be updated (Primary Health Care). The CLEISS adds that compulsory vaccinations for children under 16 are free and that the flu vaccine is free for people over 55 and for those with certain conditions.

France Diplomatie urges you to update the French vaccination schedule, in particular diphtheria, tetanus, polio, whooping cough and measles, a message about a rise in measles cases having been displayed on the country page on 13 March 2026. Yellow fever vaccination is compulsory for travellers from endemic areas. It also reminds you of the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, protection against heat, sun and air pollution, and swimming in supervised areas (updated 15 September 2026).

France Diplomatie advises having an assistance contract or insurance that covers all medical costs, including surgery and hospitalisation, and medical repatriation, and taking the EHIC with you before departure. Without entitlement to public care or an EHIC, care is billed to the patient. The page on healthcare reimbursement in Malta details who pays depending on the situation, and the page on expat health insurance presents the supplementary options, in particular for dental care and speed of access.