Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/254848
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2014 News 5 TIM ATTARD MONTALTO THE Bishop of Gozo, Mario Grech, yesterday afternoon inaugurated the first seminar of the Commission for Health Caregivers Pastoral Care. Held in one of the lecture auditori- ums in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Mater Dei, the seminar was enti- tled 'A cure with a human face', and was attended to by representatives from both the medical profession in- cluding nurses, doctors and general health caregivers, and members of the clergy. The aim of the Commission is to promote pastoral care in the field of caregiving, both for patients and for the caregivers themselves. It aims to provide a service to all health care workers, supported by ethical values within an environment of spiritual nourishment. Addressing the seminar, Grech said that the founding of such a Commis- sion was very positive. He said that it was no coincidence that the word 'hospital' derived from the word 'hospitality', stressing that the value of emotional care was price- less. Every healthcare institution, he said, must strive to 'have a human face', and not only concentrate on finding medical advancements. He explained that while material possessions may cause a separation between persons in society, physical illness, pain and suffering served as trials which everybody must battle through at some point in their lives, thus "putting us all in the same cat- egory". "Sickness does not make a distinc- tion between the young and old, the well-to-do and the poor, or the edu- cated and the ones lacking in it," he said. Grech said that it was often forgot- ten that, besides the sick found at hospital, there were many others who were suffering illness at home. "There are even those with an ill- ness and living at home alone. These must bear the suffering of their ill- ness, as well as the suffering brought on by loneliness," Grech said. Grech said that it must always be kept in mind that a patient is, above all, a human being in a vulnerable situation. "A humane rapport with patients is necessary and this will only be pos- sible if medical professionals under- stand and get to know their patients properly," he said. In a reference to the recent reports on Mater Dei, Grech warned that the environment at Mater Dei had to be up to standard. Furthermore, he said that often the rights of the weak, become weak themselves, as the persons in question are often too vulnerable to understand fully what they are going through. He said this was even more of a rea- son for caregivers to give these per- sons the care they deserve. Fantasy Tours is officially declared 'bankrupt' stated that a company is insolvent if its liabilities exceed its assets. In the case of Golden Travel Club Ltd the compa- ny's share capital has been completely paid up. While the company could resort to getting its working capital through a loan, this is very unlikely given the large negative exposure the company experienced. Furthermore, the company's assets were not suffi- cient to mitigate its debts. Court documents show that at end of 2009, the company registered a loss of €11,810. Company assets totalled €422,673 while its liabilities reached €482,410. A year later, losses went up to €42,062. Assets plummeted to €418,544 but li- abilities stood at €520,343. 2011 saw a pre-tax profit of €10,468. Assets were raised to €594,186 but li- abilities rocketed to €685,517. In 2012 the company again regis- tered a marginal profit of €14,144 but both assets and liabilities went down to €365,700 and €495,484 respec- tively. The company reached its final hurdle in 2013, when in the first six months losses had reached €228,565. Judge McKeon held that the com- pany was not in a position to pay its debts, and proceeded to dissolve Golden Travel Club Ltd, declaring the company bankrupt and in liquida- tion. 'Austria and Cyprus have no residency requirements' – Kalin from Henley & Partners JEROME CARUANA CILIA IN last Monday's edition of Reporter on TVM, Christian Kalin, an interna- tionally well-known immigration and citizenship law specialist and a part- ner at the Henley & Partners Zurich's office said that the most important feature of the contract between the government and Henley & Partners has already been released. "Our remuneration has been made public. The other points are quite ir- relevant for public discussion. It con- tains some important features that need to remain confidential because they are related to national security questions. These obviously shouldn't be published." Following Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announcing further changes to the contentious Individual Investor Programme, Reporter took a deeper look at this scheme and asked whether the issue is a closed chapter. Joined by Parliamentary Secretary for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds Ian Borg and the Opposition spokes- person for home affairs Jason Azzo- pardi, MediaToday Managing Editor Saviour Balzan analysed the govern- ment's concession in front of the Eu- ropean Commission and subsequent introduction of a residency period. In his exclusive comments, Kalin said that the situation in Austria is very clear. "There is a paragraph in the Citizenship Act which states that you can obtain citizenship directly without prior residence. Such provi- sion has been introduced in 1986 and since then Austria has a quite estab- lished practice." Kalin argued that citizenship was not only granted to sports personalities and famous singers, but also potential investors. "Effectively, this provision has been used to attract investors and business people – the same as Malta is doing now. The difference in Malta's case is that much smaller numbers are at stake, and that there is complete secrecy regarding the process and the names of the people in question." Kalin added that in Austria, there were about 20 to 30 cases a year. "But as I said, these numbers are not pub- lished at all." Kalin also stated that Cyprus al- lows citizenship to be granted directly without any residency required. Balzan pointed out that the criticism levelled at Henley & Partners is that they are interested in making money. "It is very clear that we obviously have an interest, and that this is our business. We are specialists in this field and we advise governments and countries around the world. But I do take offence to the way some of those criticisms are being aforesaid. Espe- cially from those who are in opposi- tion and the judicial protest, because this doesn't make any sense. One thing is to have a mature political de- bate about that. We provide solutions in this field and we pride ourselves to do this very well," he reiterated. Under the previous administra- tion, we have helped with regards to the residence programme. "However, this programme had severe problems, because it was not very well managed over a long period of time. In the end, it came to a point where it had to be closed. Hence, we closed it down and tried to restructure it. This is all re- lated to the residence programme," Kalin replied. Reporter on TVM also discussed whether there are more amendments in store and whether the 12-month residency period is the only change affected by the government's and the European Commission's agreement. On Monday, Azzopardi said that the Opposition will 'wait and see' un- til the government publishes the new legal notice regulating citizenship programme as sanctioned by the Eu- ropean Commission. Borg said that the main concern of the Nationalist Party is that this scheme will be successful and will attract a lot of foreign investment in Malta. He reiterated that the Nation- alist MEPs undermined Malta's repu- tation. On the other hand, Azzopardi said: "Roberta Metosla and David Casa crit- icised the government's scheme that damaged Malta's reputation. What about the 182 Socialist MEPs that not only criticised and condemned this scheme, but voted against it? Were these MEPs also forced by the Nation- alist Party to do so?" Alternattiva Demokratika chair- man Arnold Cassola said that the original iteration of the IIP scheme, which contained the secrecy clause, would tarnish the country's reputa- tion. Moreover, Maltese citizens had a right to know who was being granted citizenship. Cassola argued that the Opposition wasn't right "when threatening to revoke IIP citizenships. This was an outright breach of the fundamental human rights". On the other hand, he added that Finance Minister Edward Scicluna's comments that "Malta was short of certain people of calibre" were repre- hensible and shameful. "Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, to- gether with former prime minister Al- fred Sant, who 11 years ago attempted to revoke my voting rights, has come to terms with what AD has been say- ing. This implies that residence does not only infer the individual's physical presence in Malta, but even habitual presence. Therefore, this means that those Maltese living in the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Brussels will have full voting rights." Reporter is aired live every Monday at 6:55pm on TVM. The programme is repeated on TVM2 on Monday at 10:15pm jccilia@mediatoday.com.mt Christian Kalin Humane rapport part and parcel of healthcare services – Gozo Bishop Gozo Bishop Mario Grech