Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/224217
23 Opinion maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 DECEMBER 2013 Tremors in the Health Ministry T he last couple of weeks have been rather difficult ones for Godfrey Farrugia, the Minister for Health. The media has been full of "revelations" that raised concerns about the goings on at the Ministry and ruffled the feathers of the local business community. The first story to make the headlines related to the development of a new Patient Administration System for Mater Dei. According to the news reports, the software in question was developed in-house by "an internal team" of software developers employed by the Ministry, with particular mention made of Dr Mark Sammut, who was reportedly employed as a consultant to the Minister last June. This news immediately raised major concerns in the local IT sector, of which I form a part. A Patient Administration System is a critical system for a hospital and is not something that should be developed in haste. A few months are definitely not enough time to develop a software product which is the information systems backbone within the national public healthcare service. When it comes to systems that are critical to the running of an organisation such as a hospital, the best practice approach is to err on the side of caution. This means that what usually happens is that the system that is deployed is one that is Claudine Cassar "tried and tested" – in other words, a system that has already been used in other hospitals and gone through its baptism of fire elsewhere. Unfortunately it appears that a decision was made to take a more risky approach when it came to rolling out a new Patient Administration System, but it is not clear whether the people making the decisions were actually aware of the risks involved. Given the recent change in administration and the fact that the programmer who allegedly developed the system was only employed by the Ministry four months ago, it is impossible not to question the attention to detail that went into the development in question and the length of time dedicated to testing the application. This rapid development timeframe exacerbates the concerns that the system will fail or that it will have a number of bugs that will impact performance – something that is undoubtedly not in the best interest of patients at Mater Dei. This haphazard approach to deploy an application of national importance gives rise to some serious questions about the privacy of personal health records including how this privacy is being secured. Clearly these are issues that are of major concern and they need to be addressed by the Ministry. Saving money is all well and good, but cost savings should fade in comparison to the risks posed to patients. Who will be held accountable and responsible if personal health records are lost or attributed to the wrong individual, resulting in mistreatment or more tragically, death? Minister Farrugia needs to have a serious word with his advisors (and should perhaps consider getting a second opinion) regarding the decisions that have been made and he should have the courage to reverse the decision before it is too late. In addition to the saga relating to the Patient Administration System, another local newspaper also published articles that questioned the procurement process at the Ministry – showing screenshots of a request for quotations issued by the Ministry for Health where the cheapest bidder was a company owned by the very same consultant that the Minister employed four months ago and who allegedly developed the Patient Administration System. This immediately raised a number of question marks for local businesses who bid for government contracts. When it comes to putting together a tender and costing the financial offer, information is key and there is no doubt that consultants in the Ministry of Health have access to information and details that outsiders do not. This raises questions regarding the fairness of the procurement process and sheds a bad light on the Ministry. It is all well and good for Minister Farrugia to state that he does not interact directly with business people and that he in fact has an official who takes on that role, but what about the man he engaged to advise him on matters relating to IT, who is a businessman himself, and one who is actively bidding for Ministry for Health IT business to boot? It is clear that there is something amiss in the scenario above and the Minister must act rapidly to eliminate all conflicts of interest. In conclusion, there are many questions that must be asked about what is happening at the Ministry for Health. I tend to agree with comments made by Martin Balzan in an interview with MaltaToday last week when he questioned who exactly is running Health. This is a difficult sector and it needs a strong hand to guide it. The minister must indeed use the services of advisers and consultants, but he must insist on the highest of ethical standards and transparency. Unfortunately, what appears to be happening so far is the complete opposite, with scandals coming to light in the media and the Ministry scrambling to control the damage. This is not a good indicator of how the Ministry is being run, bringing to mind a scenario based on management by crisis. Given the sensitivity of the sector in question, it is certainly to be hoped that the situation will be resolved. at 6.4%. Even though our figures are among the best in the EU, they show that we have to make serious efforts to help reduce it further. The programs and initiatives that we have launched will make a difference in the near future, hopefully as early as next year. We are working hard to increase employment by preparing our youth's employability skills and we will continue expanding the initiatives that will attract new businesses that create more jobs. Claudine Cassar is the Executive Chairman of the Alert Group of Companies – www.alertgroup.com.mt 'Switching on' vocational education in our schools Evarist Bartolo S tudents, whether assisted or otherwise, have to make a very bold decision when reaching school leaving age, especially those who decide to move from a study environment to a work environment. To many, this transition is a culture shock and that is why we have initiated the Core Curricular Programme being run by Gozo College in conjunction with MCAST. This pilot project, being organised jointly by the MCAST Centre in Gozo and the Boys' Secondary School of the Gozo College, will provide vocational training to a number of Form 3 students as part of the Core Curriculum project. Eleven students took part. Through this initiative, announced over the summer months, those Basic skills learners in Form 3 continuing until the end of their secondary cycle will be awarded an MQC Level 1 certificate. Students participating in this programme will continue following the national curriculum in traditional basic subjects such as English, Italian, Mathematics and Sciences, but they will also be given vocational training at MCAST. Initially these students will be given training in Basic Engineering Skills with a number of modules which include basic carpentry, A very positive factor is the increase in jobs in all industries sheet-metal work and fabrication and bench-fitting, as well as on electrical installations. During a meeting with the parents of those students participating in this programme, I received very positive feedback. It is good to note that parents have a very positive attitude towards such training programmes. This core curriculum project will also help our youths enjoy their school years and it will encourage students to complete their education. They themselves regard this initiative as an experience that will be very useful in their transition from their schooling to their working life. Furthermore, those students who do not perform well academically will be able to have their school leaving certificate supplemented with a Level 1 certificate in basic engineering, issued by MCAST. This programme will meet the needs of learners according to their stage of development. Eventually, we will widen the scope of this Core Curriculum project. We will introduce further topics in vocational training such as those geared for future workers in the construction industry; mechanics and automobile engineering; agriculture as well as topics related to the tourism industry. Gainfully occupied and unemployed This week the National Statistics Office issued figures which show an increase in full time jobs over the comparative month last year. This does not mean that we have solved our employment problems but there are certain indicators that prove that our plans and policies are on the right track. A very positive factor is the increase in the number of jobs throughout almost all industries in the private and public sector, especially in Administrative and Support services. There was also a marked increase in the number of registered part-time employees. Statistics show that there is a great need for diversity in the labour market. The drive to increase Vocational Educational Training will address the problems connected to specific sectors. At the same time, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, published its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate. The percentage range of all EU states varies from 4.8% to 27.3% and Malta has the fourth lowest rate Evarist Bartolo is Minister for Education