MRI waiting times dropped from 27 weeks to 4 weeks, and CT scan waiting times dropped from 15 weeks to 8 weeks.
Direction is plausible: Malta has been outsourcing CT and MRI capacity to private providers since 2024-2025, with Budget 2025's €14M health-outsourcing line and the Minister's own €2.1M extra-MRI announcement supporting the reduction trajectory. But the specific MRI 27→4 weeks and CT 15→8 weeks figures have not been independently verified in publicly accessible Health Ministry disclosures or parliamentary replies. Spunt cannot lock the verdict without primary-source confirmation of the exact before/after numbers; the directional reduction is supported, the specific magnitudes are not.
Direction is plausible: Malta has been outsourcing CT and MRI capacity to private providers since 2024-2025, with Budget 2025's €14M health-outsourcing line and the Minister's own €2.1M extra-MRI announcement supporting the reduction trajectory. But the specific MRI 27→4 weeks and CT 15→8 weeks figures have not been independently verified in publicly accessible Health Ministry disclosures or parliamentary replies. Spunt cannot lock the verdict without primary-source confirmation of the exact before/after numbers; the directional reduction is supported, the specific magnitudes are not.
We tested Abela's claim against Budget 2025 health-outsourcing allocations (€14M), parliamentary replies on imaging waiting times 2024-2025, Health Ministry waiting-list disclosures, and NAO audit material. The specific MRI 27→4 weeks and CT 15→8 weeks magnitudes require independent verification through these primary sources rather than reliance on Ministerial-announcement framing alone.
Verdict lands at Unproven because the direction is supported (sustained outsourcing investment, €2.1M extra-MRI allocation, private-provider partnerships from January 2025) but the specific 27→4 and 15→8 magnitudes have not been independently surfaced in publicly accessible primary sources at the time of writing — parliamentary replies on imaging waiting times have produced ranges rather than these specific figures. The deep-dive lays out the directional evidence; the verdict will move to True or Mostly true when the specific magnitudes are confirmed.
Did MRI waiting times really drop from 27 weeks to 4 weeks, and CT from 15 to 8 weeks
This is a specific operational claim from the Health Minister: imaging waiting times dropped on two specific lines (MRI and CT) by a specific magnitude (27→4 and 15→8 weeks). The framing is directional and procedural rather than political — and it is the kind of claim where the answer depends entirely on whether the underlying numbers have been published.
Where the direction is supported
Malta's public health system has had chronic imaging-waiting-list pressure for years. Recent government action documented in primary sources:
- Budget 2025 €14M health outsourcing line. The Maltese government allocated €14 million in Budget 2025 to outsource health services to private providers, with imaging (CT and MRI) explicitly among the categories.
- Jo Etienne Abela's earlier €2.1M MRI announcement. The Minister has publicly cited a €2.1 million programme for extra MRI scans across 2025-2026.
- Private-provider partnerships. Outsourcing of CT and MRI capacity to private providers (St James Hospital and others) expanded from January 2025 onwards.
- Spunt fact-check #30. Our earlier assessment of the broader hospital waiting-times question (Borg, 28 April 2026, 'appointments routinely deferred') landed Misleading on the per-capita evidence — system has held up under heavy demand growth.
So the directional claim — that imaging waiting times have fallen under sustained outsourcing investment — is supported by the underlying programme record. A reduction is plausible.
Where the specific figures are not yet verifiable
The exact magnitudes the Minister cited — MRI 27 weeks → 4 weeks, CT 15 weeks → 8 weeks — have not been independently surfaced in primary sources at the time of writing. Spunt searched:
- Health Ministry waiting-list disclosures
- Parliamentary replies (Hansard) on imaging waiting times during 2024-2025
- NAO audit reporting on Mater Dei operational metrics
- Mater Dei Hospital published waiting-list breakdowns
None of those sources produced an exact 27 → 4 weeks (MRI) or 15 → 8 weeks (CT) pairing matching the Minister's announcement. Parliamentary questions on imaging during 2024-2025 have generally produced ranges and aggregate categories rather than the specific magnitudes the Minister announced.
That is not the same as saying the figures are wrong. Ministers regularly cite operational data that has not yet been published in formal parliamentary or NAO releases — they may have access to internal Health Ministry dashboards that publicly accessible records have not caught up with. The simple gap between minister-cited operational data and what Spunt can independently verify is what produces an Unproven verdict rather than a True one.
What would move the verdict
Three things would shift this from Unproven to True or Mostly True:
- A parliamentary reply citing the specific MRI and CT before/after figures with a baseline date
- A Health Ministry published waiting-list disclosure breaking out MRI weeks and CT weeks specifically
- An NAO performance audit covering the imaging outsourcing programme outcomes
If any of those three appear and confirm the 27→4 and 15→8 magnitudes, we will update this fact-check accordingly.
So is the claim accurate?
The direction is supported by the documented outsourcing programme. The specific figures the Minister cited have not been independently verified in primary sources at time of writing. Spunt does not lock a True verdict on numbers it cannot verify.
Verdict: Unproven. Direction plausible; specific magnitudes await primary-source confirmation.