6 June 2001.
The government health services are still in shambles. Quite chaotic infact. Health Centres and St. Luke's Hospital are still lacking the full complement of doctors despite at least one call for applications (full time or part time in any department of one's choosing!) and despite the so-called 'substantial' increases in salaries that came into effect at the beginning of this year.
The present government prefers to mimic the ostrich, burying its head deep in the sand, against all the odds and oblivious to anything that is happening. It appears quite reluctant to budge a millimeter towards the drastic reforms which the entire health care system yearns desperately for. Not so with taxation though... Blinded by the EU glitter and in a frenzied effort to align Malta to Brussels' expectations, the government is doing its best to sever the life-line of our little Island Republic. It is choking the very people who are struggling to sustain the country's economy. Instead of instituting tax incentives (a) to lessen the burdens on the public sector and (b) to nudge an ailing economy forwards, our 'dear' ministers (elected by the majority of us!) threaten the self employed labelling them, without distinction, as criminal tax evaders; not just that, a bench-marking exercise (by which one is told how much one should be earning and thus how much tax one is expected to pay) will soon be introduced. Poor Mr. Government! Pity that the Honourable Gentlemen are trying to bulldoze some pretty good brains out there... and some surprises are in store... Could the ministers be so naive, and so dumb! So many hints have been and are being thrown at them... some appear as cartoons in our local papers. Yet, arrogance reigns supreme. The PM has publically stated that he and his ministers have taken the message. But have they really learnt their lesson? Clearly not. Not yet. It will take a couple of electoral defeats... perhaps then, and only perhaps, will lessons be learnt by which time it will be too late for some! The first defeat was clear in the last local council elections; the second is likely to be seen with the referendum on the EU; the third...
Back to the Health Service. It's been nearly a year-and-a-half now since my letter was published (see previous page). Not a flinch! Doctors and specialists have left the service for more lucrative pastures. One Maltese specialist with qualifications no one has yet managed to obtain, was denied a consultancy post some time ago. He was offered no less than three posts in the UK and has taken one up so that he is now enjoyed by residents and students in the UK. But no. Our government denied his services to our own country! Several years ago, under a different administration, another famous specialist was denied certain conditions. Now he is the top-most man at the most famous and most prestigious clinic in the USA! These are governments who swore to give their country the best! Sure! We have no natural resources to trade (except the sun)... and without such brains, we will soon not have any services to sell either!
Dear Mr. PM, wake up. Stop looking up towards Europe. Look
at your own country first. It's about time you started doing something wise, for Malta and for heaven's
sake, start before the electorate decides to choose someone else to do your
job!
