Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1478015
NEWS 12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 SEPTEMBER 2022 AN injured adult Greater Fla- mingo has been recovered off the Gozo coast, struck down by poachers during the autumn hunting season. BirdLife Malta, which recov- ered the bird, said the Flamin- go was another victim of illegal hunting in Malta, the third one recovered since the start of the autumn hunting season last Thursday. BirdLife conservation man- ager Nick Barbara said the poaching of these protect- ed species was being carried out under cover of a hunting season. "This is thanks to the changes in laws, in the way bird taxidermy is being promoted, allowing this trade to continue without any checks from the Wild Birds Regulation Unit," Barbara said. He added that the Flamingo was most likely one of a flock passing over the island in their migration from Africa into Eu- rope. "This is the state of hunt- ing in Malta... this is what hap- pens when a hunting season is declared open during such bird migrations." Flamingo shot down in Gozo under cover of autumn hunting season THE Constitutional Court has turned down a request by a sus- pended doctor, Negad Megally, to be reinstated to his Mater Dei Hospital posting, pending the outcome of an Appeals Court decision. Megally, who uses a wheel- chair, claimed he was forcefully carried out of an examination room by a senior medical pro- fessional, while he was treating patients. Megally worked at the MDH Ultrasound Clinic. He successfully won his case against Mater Dei's suspension, after disciplinary proceedings were filed against him in 2021. An appeals court decision will be reached in October. Earlier this year, Megally suc- cessfully won reinstatement to his position after a court found he had suffered inhuman and degrading treatment as well as discrimination, and ordered re- imbursement of his salary and €5,000 in moral damages. The Court found that there had been a concerted effort among medical consultants to dismiss Megally, stemming from a 2018 incident wgeb he was accused by Prof. Yves Muscat Baron of holding up medical equipment needed by another doctor. In- sisting on finishing examining his patients, Megally was phys- ically carried to a chair outside the clinic by Muscat Baron and and hospital CEO Ivan Falzon, who did not wait for porters to assist Megally to his wheelchair. An internal inquiry acknowl- edged Muscat Baron's "coarse and bristly" attitude but said that Megally had "heightened sensi- tivities" about his personal dis- ability. Finally in October 2001, he was suspended over alleged "mistakes" and "shortcomings" at his job. Naged Megally, a specialist gy- naecologist and Coptic Christian who hails from Egypt, ran for the European elections in 2019 for far-right party Moviment Patri- otti. Suspended doctor must wait for appeal before reinstatement