Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1178700
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 23 OCTOBER 2019 NEWS JAMES DEBONO ADRIAN Delia's budget speech was dominated by three themes namely; the economic dependence on the importa- tion of foreigners, rising social inequali- ties and poverty and the reputational damage resulting from corruption and lax money laundering regulations. Delia started his speech by capitalis- ing on the anxiety created by riots in the Hal Far open centre, hitting hard on the government's statement that only 300 of the 1200 migrants had participated in the riot comparing the situation to hooliganism in a football ground; "Im- agine this happened in a football ground of 1200, of which 300 started destroying everything in front of them including police cars…should we put our mind at rest simply because we arrested some and that the others did not participate?" he provocatively asked. While offering solidarity to the victims of violence was more than understand- able, it is unclear what Delia wanted to achieve by nurturing anxiety. Surely this prelude served as a curtain raiser for a speech in which Delia once again lashed at an economic model based on population growth referring to for- eigners as threat to working conditions, quality of life and wages walking on tight rope between legitimate concerns on "the importation of precarious labour" and a dangerous "us vs. them" polarisation. This polarisation came across in his simplistic comparison of the current economic model to a house head who decided to collect more money by in- creasing the number of dwellers from 10 to 15 with the result that the five new inhabitants ended up ruining the quality of life of the original 10. One could not avoid the impression that Delia was capitalising on the events at Hal Far to give new impetus to his concerns on foreign workers, even if De- lia himself has always taken a humani- tarian approach towards migrations res- cued on the high seas who end up living in open centres. The pros: combative and down to earth Delia replied to interruptions from the government benches using them as props for his own quips. He was also effective in turning Mus- cat's "little rich men" slogan against him, drawing comparisons with the new global rich and the earnings of political appointees making a facetious reference to former head of communications at the Prime Minister's Office, Kurt Far- rugia, who he said was enjoying a wage of around €180,000 a year as Malta En- terprise CEO (quoting the salary in the final year of his 9 year contract which starts with a basic salary of €105,000 and €26,000 allowances). He even managed to portray interrup- tions as attempts to belittle the grievanc- es of the common folk, which he voiced. He also struck a popular chord by ex- posing the contrast between statistical Hard hitting Delia's Budget speech MASSIMO COSTA THE head of the nurses' union has slammed American company Stew- ard Health Care for its complete lack of investment in medical care, saying it had failed miserably to deliver on the multi-million concession to run three state hospitals. Paul Pace, president of the Malta Union for Midwives and Nurses, said that Steward's drastic failure to deliver in all areas was highlighted by the fact that it had not even man- aged to complete the refurbishment of the old St Luke's physiotherapy department, despite promising to have it up and running by the end of October this year. Steward Health Care took over the running of three of Malta's public hospitals in 2017, after the conces- sion for their maintenance and op- eration was transferred from Vitals Global Healthcare, the consortium whose bid was originally selected by the government. Pace, writing in the Times of Mal- ta, however, lambasted Steward for its lack of initiative. Since it had taken over, he said, no new hospital was being built in Gozo, Karin Grech Hospital was not being refurbished, no new building was being built in the St Luke's Hos- pital area, no upgrading of the new medical school was being undertak- en to set up a new nursing campus, and no refurbishment or upgrading was being done to the very old phys- iotherapy department. "These are all projects that Stew- ard Health Care had been assign- ment, but which have all failed mis- erably," Pace said. Although the Maltese government had entrusted it with the refurbish- ment of the old physiotherapy de- partment at St Luke's - which had seen no investment in the last 15 years - Steward "did not have the slightest intention of investing [in it]," he said. The consortium had "boasted" that by August 2019, a foreign contrac- tor would be engaged who would "blitz the place to the ground", and that Maltese patients would be able to use the new state-of-the-art fa- cilities and services offered by the physiotherapy department by Octo- ber 2019. Such timelines were presented to the Health Minister in June, lead- ing MUMN to suspend all industrial action which physiotherapists had taken at the time over the condi- tions of their department, which they had said was in such poor con- dition that they couldn't treat pa- tients properly. Despite Steward's promises, the refurbishment did not materialise, with Pace saying the consortium had "failed so drastically in deliver- ing a projects as simple as the refur- bishment of the physiotherapy de- partment" that MUMN had to order new industrial action this month. "Unfortunately, the reality of the situation and the failure of Steward Health Care came back to haunt us," he said. Steward insensitivity to patients "makes one wonder" whether it is a reliable partner to trust with medi- cal care, a very sensitive matter, Pace emphasised. He asked whether Steward, which had been in Malta for two years "with no visibe investment in medi- cal care", should be the main stra- tegic partner in the sector, when it never maintained its timelines and was insensitive to Maltese patients' suffering. "The failure of Steward Health Care to complete one, simple pro- ject - as was the refurbishment of the physiotherapy department - makes one wonder about its true in- tentions," he said. Pace went on to urge the govern- ment to apply the needed pressure on Steward and to make it shoulder responsibility for the commitments it made. Nurses' boss: Steward 'failed miserably' to deliver on all hospital projects Paul Pace: "Unfortunately, the reality of the situation and the failure of Steward Health Care came back to haunt us"