moreover those who suffer from chronic illnesses are also entitled to their diseasespecific medicines free of charge without meanstesting since these can be collected from any phaimacy including those in the private sector resulting in improved access in all other cases patients must purchase pharmaceuticals out of pocket except during hospitalisation and for the first three days following discharge missoc furthermore the presidents malta community chest fund a philanthropic foundation has extended its role in financing drugs that are not yet included in the benefits package in addition the second national cancer plan published in outlines a government pledge to include more cancer medications on the governments formulary list in the coming yeais in such direct payments as a share of total health expenditure totalled significantly higher than the eu average of figure