Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1062629
19 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 DECEMBER 2018 Rabat: urban planning nightmare IT is perhaps with some relief that a for- mer Rabat mayor, and now an employee of the Prime Minister's office, has taken up the residents' mantle to publicly op- pose two developments in Rabat which would adulterate its pristine and historic streetscape and skyline. But, I ask, how many more of these ad hoc solutions can us residents afford? I speak not just for those in Rabat but also for those in Sliema, and many other places whose topography of memories is being ripped apart by profit-minded developers. Must we be 'saved' by peo- ple like Sandro Craus and their influ- ence inside Labour (two ministers have hopped on his bandwagon), so that the Planning Authority could be seemingly minded of the political disfavour that such projects have? On the flipside, should we interpret any silence from Labour politicians and persons of trust as a kind of green light for the Planning Authority to do as it wills and bend the local plan policies to their masters' pleasure? This is Malta in 2018. Last year this same newspaper had proposed in its first edition of the year, an idea to have planning decisions by the Planning Authority that concern local plan questions to local referenda: that is, no changes to local plans can take place without a referendum held at local level. A great proposal. Surely enough, there would be a campaign at each controversial proposal to increase building heights or widen development zones, to vote down such changes. The MPs would then be strait-jacketed and the PA would have no option but to comply. I understand that there are many eNGOs and residents groups fighting development in their own back-yard. Unfortunately they are two politically diverse and each has their own strategy to fight the PA's largesse. But we should come together to campaign for laws that prevent the PA from ignoring people's wishes. One hopes, anyway. John Debattista, Sliema Clarification IN the story appearing on Wednesday 12 December, and later posted online under the title 'Ministry plays down suggestion that Steward are unwilling to pay for AFM helicopter', it was incor- rectly written that the Gozo hospital helicopter had a downtime period of three months a year. It was brought to our attention that the annual scheduled maintenance typi- cally lasts three weeks, and not three months – a legal safety requirement in place to ensure the safe crossing of patients and staff making use of the air- ambulance. While our staff insists that it did not misreport the Steward Health- care spokesperson, the error is regretted since it is of the utmost importance that correct information is published when this concerns the public healthcare system. It was also stated in the article that de- cisions on transporting patients to Malts from Gozo were taken in conjunction with the Mater Dei Head of Cardiol- ogy. It is correct to point out that these clinical decisions are taken by the GGH clinical team in conjunction with the responsible clinical teams at Mater Dei, namely for different medical emergency cases which are better treated in Malta. Steward has said that the decision to transport patients via ambulance rather than the AFM helicopter is a clinical one based on all the evidence at hand, and in conjunction with counterparts at Mater Dei Hospital, and has nothing to do with payments to the AFM for using their service. The Gozo General Hospital does offer an emergency service, and the absolute majority of emergency cases are treated in Gozo; it is only certain specific emer- gencies that need to be transferred to Malta. The scheduled maintenance is now complete, and the air ambulance is in fact operational again and on 24/7 standby in Gozo. Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications