Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1515545
11 EDITORIAL maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 FEBRUARY 2024 AFTER eight long years, the Gozo General, St Luke's and Karin Grech hospitals are back in gov- ernment hands. The repossession of these three facilities was not the result of government's proactive ap- proach to terminate a contract that remained unfulfilled by Steward Healthcare. Rather, the repossession was the result of the court's ruling to rescind the privatisation contract following a case initiated by Nationalist MP Adrian Delia. In many aspects, we're back to square one. The hospitals have not seen the promised level of investment and the time wasted with this rot- ten privatisation deal has an opportunity cost, which is now being felt in our health sector. Gozo was promised a new state of the art general hospital. It never arrived, leaving the country in the same state as before. Now, the new health minister, Jo Etienne Abela says the country needs another hospital to complement Mater Dei. It makes strategic sense to have a well-equipped general hospital in Gozo to cater for the needs of the sister island and the localities of Mellieha and St Paul's Bay. Having a well-equipped gen- eral hospital on Gozo makes sense even in the eventuality of a natural disaster that diminishes the capacity of Mater Dei Hospital. But it is not just the lack of a new Gozo hospi- tal that is of concern. The country is crying out loud for a new mental health facility to replace the aged and decrepit Mount Carmel Hospital. In October 2013, then health minister God- frey Farrugia had announced that a new mental health hospital would be built across the Birkir- kara bypass and it had to be ready in three or four years. Roll forward to 2024 and this prom- ised hospital is nowhere to be seen and now the former prime minister, Joseph Muscat, says one of his biggest regrets was that of not giving enough attention to mental health care. A mother and baby hospital was also promised to provide specialised care. Once again, this proposal never materialised and we now have Labour MP Katya De Giovanni correctly raising the point that it is cruel to leave a woman who has miscarried in the same ward as expectant mothers. The country was also promised a new outpa- tient block at Mater Dei for which a planning permit has already been obtained. The trans- fer of outpatient facilities to this new building, when it is built, would free up more space for clinical use within the hospital. To date, works on this building have barely started, leaving big question marks as to when it will ever be built. On a more personal level, hospital treatment waiting lists appear to have returned with a vengeance after the COVID interlude with pa- tients being left to wait months if not years to have a CT scan or MRI, or be operated on. A lack of beds at Mater Dei has resulted in people being treated in areas of the hospital that are unsuitable and lack the dignity one would expect. After eight years of pinning its hopes on a fraudulent deal to deliver change in Malta's healthcare system, the government is now fac- ing mounting problems part of which are the result of postponed decisions. Opposition health spokesperson Adrian Delia is correct when he argues that the repercussions of the failed Vitals-Steward privatisation are now being borne by patients. The health sector requires a new plan that lays down the priorities for the next 10 years and how these will be addressed. As a country, we've invested €700 million over seven years on im- provements to the road network. We are now supposed to be investing another €700 million over seven years in open green spaces within ur- ban environments. The health sector requires a massive invest- ment on the same lines. This leader hopes that the new health minister sits down with his ex- perts and the stakeholders to outline a develop- ment plan that is feasible and responds to the present and future challenges. A feasible plan for the health sector is required maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt governors. The governor-gener- al's term is expected to expire in the middle of the year. If King Charles were then seriously ill and unable to appoint a new gov- ernor-general, no one could do so, as neither counsellors of state nor a regent could do so. Instead, the current gover- nor-general, David Hurley, could choose to continue in office, as there is no formal termination of his office until he is replaced. Alternatively, he could resign and his office could be filled on a temporary basis by a state gov- ernor as administrator, as is the usual practice when there is a va- cancy in the office. If the office of a state governor becomes vacant, the lieutenant-governor, who is often the chief justice of the state, can exercise the governor's func- tions. However, if a regency were to continue for a long time – per- haps years – this could become unsustainable. The other consideration is that if there is a regency, there is no power to dismiss a governor-gen- eral. So if a constitutional crisis arose, such as that in 1975 with the dismissal of the Whitlam gov- ernment, the governor-general would know that he or she could act without the prospect of dis- missal on the advice of the prime minister. This unbalances the constitu- tional pressures that are deliber- ately built into the system, giving a stronger hand to the gover- nor-general and weakening the position of the prime minister. The problem could be addressed in the same way as the rules of succession to the throne were changed in 2015 to remove gen- der discrimination. It would in- volve each state enacting a law requesting the Commonwealth to enact a law that recognised the authority of a regent to exercise the sovereign's powers with re- spect to Australia. While it is not essential to fix this problem, it would still be wise, as a matter of orderly con- stitutional housekeeping, to ad- dress it before any real difficulties arise.