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18 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR Matthew Vella MANAGING EDITOR Saviour Balzan Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JULY 2018 2 July, 2008 Four years for a cataract A 1998 manpower plan for the hospital's oph- thalmology department earmarked the need for 19 doctors to satisfy the increasing demand for cataract operations, but this plan will only be fully implemented this year when the number of doctors appointed will satisfy the requirements of the plan. Yesterday the burgeoning demand for cataract operations and the long waiting list at Mater Dei was given a human face by a 70-year-old woman who told MaltaToday she waited four months for an operation to be fixed, only to be told she was facing a four-year queue. Only last year, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi specifically stated that cataract waiting lists would be cut down within three years at Mater Dei – although ostensibly the four-year waiting list is still a reality. The woman said she visited the hospital in February and was told she would be informed of an appointment for her cataract operation within four months. After not receiving any news from the hospital, last week she called Mater Dei to enquire about the operation. She was asked to present herself personally at the hospital, since the information could not be communicated to her by phone. The next day, she was told she faced a four- year wait for her operation due to the long wait- ing list. Although her case was listed as "not urgent", she said she couldn't bear to wait months before her eye worsens, and is now contemplating pri- vate surgery. News of the four-year waiting list makes for a glaring contrast with Gonzi's claim in last year's Budget speech, that waiting lists for cataract operations would be cut down "in the shortest time possible". "In Mater Dei we not only have twice the num- ber of operating theatres, but the most important of dedicated theatres. This means we will be able to cut down waiting lists such as those for cataract operations in the shortest time posible. We will be able to double the number of cataract operations every year, even through operations carried out in the afternoon. That is why wait- ing lists for cataract operations will be elimited within three years," Gonzi claimed last October. The situation concerning Mater Dei's ophthal- mology department was yesterday brought up in parliament, when Labour MP Leo Brincat asked health minister John Dalli on his views over com- ments by the chairman of the ophthalmology department, Thomas Fenech. On 15 June, Fenech wrote in The Times say- ing the "tremendous increase in volume" of operations for cataract operations had not been accompanied by an increase in manpower in the department. MaltaToday 10 years ago Quote of the Week Diversity, but no unity AFTER an eventful week culminating in a tenuous agreement on voluntary burden sharing between the 28 EU member states, the question on many people's lips will surely be: where is the 'solidarity' the European Union always talks about? Despite a show of optimism by European leaders this week, the agreement raises as many questions as it answers. It calls for the creation of closed migrant reception centres in EU countries for the fast processing of asylum applications; but fails to say where these centres will be located. It calls for the quick return of those not deserving protection, but fails to specify how this will happen. Past ex- perience teaches us that deportation is not as easy as it appears on paper: it requires the consent and co-operation of the countries of origin, which in many cases is not even realistically possible. The agreement also calls on "all ships" in the Mediterranean, which includes migrant rescue ships run by NGOs, to respect international law and not interfere in operations of the Libyan coastguard. At a glance this seems unnecessary, as those obligations already exist, and have existed for centuries. Above all, however, the agreement amounts to a series of declared intentions – all in themselves commendable – without any clear indications of the mechanisms that will make those intentions come to pass. As such, it is virtually indistinguish- able from other pacts signed before – in 2008, for instance, and more recently in 2015 – which can be seen to have failed. Even the individual proposals themselves bring with them a sensation of déjà-vu. The summit agreed that member states should create closed re- ception centres to process migrant asylum claims. In many ways, this is nothing new. Malta has its own reception centres, as presumably do, other EU countries. The overarching problem, however, is the vol- untary nature of the agreement. Such voluntary mechanisms do not have a track record of success. One can recall the Labour Party's strong criticism in 2011 on EU conclusions that spoke of voluntary burden sharing. "Malta needs solidarity not char- ity," ran the PL tag line at the time. It now appears that the EU has come full circle: if not, actually, taken a step backwards. After the mandatory responsibility-sharing mechanism which introduced quotas in 2015, EU leaders have returned to voluntary mechanisms. Once again, it is up to individual member states to introduce reception centres on a voluntary basis; it is also up to member states to decide whether to accept the relocation of migrants from other member states. This is not solidarity. It is little more than politi- cal posturing, that tries to patch up severe differ- ences between north and south, west and east. The issue that precipitated this agreement itself also attests to its fragility. The week-long ordeal to try and find member states willing to agree to take in the migrants that disembarked in Malta from the Lifeline, described as an ad hoc agreement, confirms the fact that voluntary mechanisms are a hard-slog to activate when push comes to shove. What happens when the next boat- load of migrants is rescued and brought ashore to Malta or Italy? What long-term strategy does this pact introduce, that did not exist before? Short of closing the borders and reneging on international obligations to save lives at sea, the frontline states will still have to patch up a 'coali- tion of the willing' each and every time. The solu- tion is unrealistic, unworkable and could even put people's lives at risk unnecessarily. Apart from lacking in solidarity towards the countries on the frontline, the EU's approach also seems lacking in altruism towards genuine asylum seekers who take such risks to get to Europe in the first place. The only message of note to the outside world is that Europe does not want migrants, full- stop. Whether that will be enough to stop people fleeing desperation from trying to make it to Euro- pean shores, has yet to be seen. It is certainly not enough for the EU to live up to its own lofty ideals of human rights protection. One of the conclusions calls on all ships in the Mediterranean, including NGO vessels, not to in- terfere with the actions of the Libyan coastguard. And as if to stress the point, the Captain of the MV Lifeline, which brought the saved migrants over to Malta, is waiting to be arraigned. Indeed, Malta and Italy have found Europe's support, in their controversial decisions to close their ports to NGOs in the hope that the Libyan coastguard will stop migrants before they enter into any of the European search and rescue zones. This is a worrying development, as it signifies Europe's will to simply wash its hands of the prob- lem, and dump it on Libya instead. This will only bolster the international impression of Fortress Europe; and even worse, it will do nothing to ad- dress any of the root causes of irregular migration to begin with. Trying to block migration at source is very ques- tionable from a human rights perspective, when Libya remains in the state it's in. One would have expected, at the very least, a clearer commitment to contribute to the re-stabilisation of Libya... especially given the prominent roles several EU states played in that country's destabilisation in 2011. Ultimately, this agreement illustrates Europe's diversity far more than its supposed unity. Editorial "We have managed to reach an agreement in the European Council. But this is in fact the easiest part of the task, compared to what awaits us on the ground, when we start implementing it," European Council president Donald Tusk Apart from lacking in solidarity towards the countries on the frontline, the EU's approach also seems lacking in altruism towards genuine asylum seekers who take such risks to get to Europe in the first place