I am very sorry, I can no longer digest the news bulletins delivering the second-by-second situation at Mater Dei. They are now sounding like a daily chronicle of the Iraq invasion, and similarly to that campaign, there is a deep sense that something may well go very, very wrong.
If Lm250 million were not enough of an expense, the billboards that anthropologist Jeremy Boissevain describes as ‘the ugly blot on the Maltese countryside’ are lavishly illustrated with smiling and gentle faces announcing that there is a new hospital, just in case someone had been living underground these past couple of months and had not noticed.
It is now four months since the inauguration of the new hospital. It has been very much like a organising the wake before you are called to the other world. If there was one thing I could never ever have imagined is celebrating a 15-year gestation period that cost a quarter of a billion liri. But then, not all of us share this cynicism.
To enlighten us on the various state-of-the-art ‘gotta see’ Mater Dei, enter Eileen Montesin, the actor stroke radio presenter stroke former Labour cheerleader whom the Nationalists loved to hate and the Labourites to like. But alas, hers had been a transformation brought upon by the strange epiphany of Eddie Fenech Adami, and which as a consequence had her hopping up and down about how Mater Dei offers everything from TV and internet to wonderful accommodation. It was like Bollywood’s take on Mission Impossible.
In those adverts, Montesin could not help telling us what we will find in the new hospital, that is if we ever have the misfortune of ending up there. In her dedicated role as government’s newly appointed mascot, it was living proof that red peppers could turn into blue cabbages after all. I recall her strutting around and pointing out that after a cataract operation you could see… wait for it… Dejjem tieghek, Becky from the TVs hanging in front of your bandaged eyes – and if you were in Orthopaedics because of your broken fingers, you were just a finger away from the nearest internet desktop; and if shell shocked and deaf, with a telephone literally next to you. Not to mention all the facilities that start making you wonder whether a weekend break in Gozo is really such a good idea after all.
At this rate, do not be too surprised if you see an MTA advert that reads: ‘Take a rest. Break a leg. Spend three weeks at Mater Dei.’ With the new budget on health tourism, do not be too surprised.
Together with so many others, Montesin raised expectations at Mater Dei, on government’s behest of course, to such a high level that nobody should be blamed if they find that many of the things advertised are still not in place five months after the inauguration and 15 years after the first stone was laid.
I had just started to become very conscious of how negative I really am until I received a copy of an email sent by a friend who copied me a frank email she sent off to Dr Louis Deguara – who by the way is the Minister of Health even though he has still to appear in the big billboards.
The letter read like this:

Dear Dr Deguara,

My son […] was diagnosed again with cancer 2 weeks ago.
He has to be in hospital for aggressive chemotherapy which he will take over 7 days and then has to stay in for 3/4 weeks… after that his immune system will be nil.
Fortunately? He’s at Mater Dei…
After all the millions and time wasted and all the hype about moving: there is no internet or TV (apparently the authorities have still not decided on a provider) and what the ward staff are saying is that it might be ready by January/February; there is no telephone service either in the rooms; believe it or not there are no drip stands in the hospital, so my son takes two doses of chemo (one over half an hour, the other over four hours), so he is literally chained to the bed by his chemo pipe!
The car park (apart from being full of building debris, lifts are dirty and smudged, and the area coming out of the lift to the car park and next the parking machines being filthy) costs a fortune… There is nowhere to park except in the car park which costs 50c an hour, and the maximum is Lm3… that is if you stay there. Now, go and take a break from hospital or do shopping or get something the patient needs, and you can pay up to Lm6 or Lm8 a day. When we asked customer care what the policy was for long-term patients, they said there was no policy. As usual [they] will try really hard and do us a favour and get us a pass for one car.
When my son’s father said we were separated and wanted four passes and that we had family who would be visiting for long hours, they told us there was nothing they could do, that they would try for two passes but that we should not hold our breath!
I agree that there have to be teething problems BUT wasn’t there enough time to put all the services in place... and drip stands? And what is one meant to do over long hours in a hospital room without a TV and why is it that there is no WIFI (and not just internet on the side of the bed) – this is 2008 and WIFI is a way of life for people who work!).
As a taxpayer who has paid, and is paying more for these services than if I had booked the presidential suite at the Hilton, does not anybody realise that we EXPECT these services – we have paid for them and all the staff there are employed by the taxpayer and nobody is doing anybody any favours! And people in charge are accountable to the taxpayer!
Considering all the money that has been paid I certainly don’t expect to pay at the car park – the car park should be a choice to make one’s life easier. If I don’t want to go round and look for a parking place (as I usually do when I go anywhere) but even if I go to the supermarket one gets the parking ticket validated after doing the shopping! There were people fuming at the money they were paying, because apparently one person had been in hospital in a queue, then for a blood test and her ticket was Lm3... can you imagine what it’s like for somebody earning Lm300 a month and having to visit somebody in hospital twice a day?
The above are the absolute facts as on 15 November […]
You were touring the hospital yesterday afternoon, so obviously you either only saw what you wanted to see or were shown the cosmetics! Yes, I am angry, it is bad enough to go through this trauma without having our lives made more difficult by ignorance! I am addressing this to you personally as you have been the minister responsible for this hospital since its conception!

The mother who sent in this email, found no problem with my revealing her identity. However out of the sensitivity to the difficulties her family are encountering, I thought best not to reveal her name. The authenticity of this email can be confirmed by Louis Deguara himself who received this email from her.

Now you could say that I am in grumbling mode, but really I am just simply tired of having to replace the tyres of my car and listen to the constant screeching of my ruined car suspensions in my new car.
But surely roads minister Jesmond Mugliett has not traversed the roads we cross day and night. I know I am going to be very parochial, but has anyone taken the road from Mosta to Naxxar, or Naxxar to San Gwann, Naxxar to Attard, Iklin to Mater Dei, Msida to Birkirkara, or Birkirkara to Naxxar.
Well, if you have you should really hope you do not have a bad back. Or better still that your car is old and is especially designed for cross-country driving. Unfortunately very few are regular users of the CHOGM road to Mgarr, with its excellent smooth surface. We were told many moons ago the CHOGM road hadn’t been surfaced because of the Commonwealth dictators who holidayed at the Golden Sands and to listen to the Queen. It had simply been a ‘coincidence’.
Now Minister Jesmond Mugliett may be a handsome kind of guy, but looks alone do not make you a good minister for roads. Nor does it make you a bad minister. Indeed Mugliett is neither good nor bad; he is in fact what one calls a neither-here-nor-there kind of politician.
I have specifically avoided mentioning Manwel Dimech Bridge. But I am told that the speed with which this project has progressed is only slightly faster than that of a Galapagos tortoise.
Now Mugliett will probably think I have it in for him. I do not. I quite like the guy. How could I not like someone who made my car sound like a fan that needs to be oiled? It’s when I realise, like so many other polluting motorists do, that after every rain and each storm a new set of potholes sprout and start their coexistence with other sexless holes months on end, that I wonder whether this minister has ever realised what his job is really all about.
I am sure that the geology and morphology of a pothole is a very difficult thing to come to terms with, but surely there must be a ladybird booklet around that tells you exactly how to fill in a pothole. I am sure that if Mugliett took his public relations man Cleavon, who apparently has very little to do, and together toured the Maltese and Gozitan roads for one hour every day in the good company of a shovel, a truckload of fresh tarmac and a levelling machine, many people would gladly pat both the minister and his press secretary as they dutifully and most kindly patch up the potholes.

This opinion will of course be construed as yet another attempt by Saviour Balzan to get at the Nationalists and support the Labourites. It is of course not the case. But do we really care? I for one don’t. Why should I, anyway?
Many Nationalist politicians are arrogant and incompetent managers who believe that they understand the cosmos and that everyone around them should genuflect before them and tremble in their presence.
But many Labourites are arrogant too and by Jove, indeed intolerant. Take Labour deputy leader Michael Falzon, the very sensitive and conservative socialist politician who cannot stomach it that the press such as MaltaToday question his hysterical outbursts at a party club.
His colleagues at the Labour party say that they understand the role of MaltaToday. As they speak, Falzon as Mr No. 3 in the Labour party, wants his pound of flesh from the independent press with his labels.
Just imagine if he ever gets to the post of a minister. How would he act? Can you imagine?
The Labourites believe that they can do a better job. Yes, I am sure. But it very much depends how. They have nothing to show for their so-called managerial skills. Does anyone believe that political hue has anything to do with skills?
Nonetheless many people just believe that the Nationalists should be given a lesson, a beating, and kicked out of Castille. It is one way of looking at it. But many will argue that one should choose the best between two evils. Really.
Well, I will have no part in this game of musical chairs. Which reminds me: what was the name of that restaurant in Siracusa?

Not many people seem to have noticed but on Friday, Alternattiva Demokratika leader Harry Vassallo organised a press conference and literally blew his top. There were strong words about the intolerance and discrimination many AD top officials face.
He did not mention names, but I know from my past experience that he is referring to those people who work as teachers with the education division and have constantly faced an uphill battle when seeking to move up the ladder.
I have names but I am sure they would not like to be mentioned.
Yet, the more interesting anecdote was the revelation that the Prime Minister had invited John Mizzi, the AD councillor from Sannat, to supper at the Calypso Hotel for a one-to-one encounter.
Why did the PM feel the need to meet this councillor beats me? But we could of course give a few hints why the PM, who hardly has the time to meet editors for a one-to-one cuppa finds the time to meet a councillor from the hated and disliked third party.

sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt