Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1002137
3 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 JULY 2018 BI PRODUZZJONI TA' SEAN BUHAGIAR MUSICAL ORIĠINALI MINN DAWK LI ĠABULKOM BALZUNET TA TOWERS IMNEBBAĦ MINN STEJJER VERA biljetti minn ilhanina.com jew 23397000 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 It added that it would be unsafe to carry out the works without removing the patients from the hospital wards. The ministry said patients were being individually as- sessed for fitness and both patients and relatives were informed immediately of the move. The issue was flagged last month by Opposition MP Mario Galea, who said the transfer of the elderly pa- tients would create anxiety and destabilise them. Last week, Galea asked the health commissioner in the Ombudsman's office to in- vestigate the patient trans- fer, which is imminent. Mal- taToday understands that the health commissioner is looking into the matter. Galea told this newspaper that relatives were informed by the health authorities that the patients will not be returning to Mount Carmel hospital after the refurbish- ment. The patients, some of whom are in their 90s, were in wards that were designed to cater for people who suf- fer from dementia. "Drastic moves like the one being contemplated are not beneficial for elderly people, who tend to make the place they are residing in their home," Galea said. He noted that some of the patients were heavily de- pendent and required quali- fied nurses and doctors to look after them, not carers. "It appears that no consul- tation was done with geriat- ric experts before the deci- sion to make the move was taken," Galea lamented. The ministry said the re- location concerns patients that can be nursed in a facil- ity for elderly care and not necessarily in a mental hos- pital. Mount Carmel hospital came in for harsh criticism by the National Audit Of- fice last week. In a damning report, the NAO found that Mount Carmel was severely under-resourced, both fi- nancially and in terms of hu- man resources, while facing considerable internal chal- lenges. While the NAO said that government had committed to invest €30 million in long overdue repairs to the hos- pital, the office said this was only a portion of the chal- lenges it faces in operations. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt €3 million elderly care direct order 'No one is illegal', activsts call on EU to protect refugees K ARL AZZOPARDI A demonstration calling on European Union member states to implement policies that protect the lives of refu- gees, was held outside the law courts in Valletta yesterday. The event 'Sea Bridge – soli- darity with refugees at sea and ashore' saw demonstra- tors carry banners that read "Europe Kills", in a reference to the reluctance of European governments to rescue mi- grants stranded at sea The activists, among them members of Moviment Graf- fiti, Alternattiva Demokra- tika, as well as PN candidate Michael Briguglio, placed several life jackets and other buoyancy aids used to prevent people from drowning, on the steps outside the law courts. One of the demonstra- tors, Maria, an operator of the search and rescue air- craft Moonbird – which is operated by the rescue char- ity Sea-Watch and has been blocked from leaving Malta – expressed her disbelief at be- ing grounded by the Maltese authorities and unable to per- form her humanitarian role. "The EU doesn't want any witnesses to its deadly poli- cies," she said. Richard Brenner, an engi- neer on board the humanitar- ian ship MV Lifeline, which has also been prevented from leaving Malta, said that he and other crew members were attending the manifestation to show their anger at the way the EU and its member states were treating them. "I am here because in the last mission we were more or less arrested at sea, with 234 rescue migrants on board, caught in a storm between European countries and politics," he said. The event – which comes in the wake of the Lifeline having been allowed to en- ter Malta's ports after an ad hoc agreement with other EU countries, to each take a por- tion of the migrants on board, had been reached – was held in association with the See- brücke Network, which or- ganises manifestations across Germany and Spain to call for solidarity with refugees.