Surveillance

Sixty seven specified communicable diseases are statutory notifiable, including priority communicable diseases as well as syndromes such as congenital rubella and acute flaccid paralysis. Notification is mandatory by law to all doctors in both public and private sectors. In terms of Article 27 (a) (i) of the Public Health Act, the Superintendent has declared the list of notifiable diseases. This notice was issued in the Government Gazette No. 17,533 dated 27th January 2004 (Pg 406).

Details of patients and disease are sent via The Infectious Disease Certificate by postal mail or fax to the Department for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention on behalf of the Superintendent of Public Health. Notifications may also be received via synapse direct, which is a secure e-mail system. For urgent notifications, a 24-hour on-call service operates via Mater Dei Hospital switchboard. Medical doctors are continually encouraged to notify such communicable disease since the system relies substantially on such notifications.

Copies of the notification form may be obtained from:

Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit,

Department for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention,

37-39 Rue D’Argens, Msida

Tel: 21324086, 21332235

Fax: 21319243

E-mail at disease.surveillance@gov.mt.

Copies may also be downloaded from here.

A supplementary system of reporting key infections also operates from the laboratories of the Department of Pathology at St Luke’s hospital - the main state hospital and private medical diagnostic laboratories. The laboratories on the island serve to detect infections on a primary level. For any further investigations and confirmatory tests, clinical samples are occasionally carried out at reference laboratories overseas.

Reports of deaths directly attributed to notifiable infectious diseases are provided by the Department of Health Information, which processes all death certificates.