Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/644193
8 MARTINA BORG THE Malta Environment and Planning Authority has issued permits to allow the San Frangisk animal welfare centre in Ta' Qali to become a fully-fledged animal hospital, with the aim of restoring services in the coming months, MaltaToday has learnt. Services at the facility were tem- porarily suspended from the 28th September last year, after it was announced that new operators Animal Pro Health Ltd (APH) would take over the facility, fol- lowing a public call for applica- tions. Sources said that the new opera- tors had requested the new permit after becoming aware that under the previous permit, the welfare centre did not have a licence to operate as a clinic or hospital, but rather, as an after-care clinic. The new permit will allow the centre to deliver more services to a larger range of animals and the new operator will also include professional training for veteri- nary nurses and regular organiza- tions to support the local veteri- nary profession at the centre. In fact animal rights parliamen- tary secretary Roderick Galdes had said during a 'Gvern li Jisma' public consultation session in No- vember that the hospital would also provide services to farm ani- mals, as well as a 24-hour phar- macy for medications used spe- cifically for animals. According to the secretariat, the new management will also start providing a 25% discount to all registered Animal Welfare NGOs, as well as providing free care to 2,000 animals a year for the Ani- mal Welfare Directorate. Work on the facility is expected to start in the coming days with the aim of re-opening the centre in a matter of months, although a concrete timeline is not yet known, sources confirmed. In previous communications, the secretariat had also confirmed that the call for tenders, which had only received one submission, had been awarded for 25 years, to enable the premises to undergo a total conversion. Asked what options were open to people who needed care for their pets during the period when the service was suspended, the secre- tariat said it had introduced a sys- tem of 19 clinics, some of them on a rotation basis, that would be of- fering on-call emergency 24-hour services to clients. The list of vets available in- cludes St Simon vet clinic, Vetcare animal clinic, Highrise veterinary clinic, Animal Aid, St Francis Vet Clinic, Pets Vet Clinic, Qormi vet clinic, Best Friends veterinary clinic, Drs Med. Vet. L. & A. Borg vet clinic, Animal Doctors Vet Clinic, St Anne's Vet clinic, Galea Veterinary Clinic, Blue Cross clinic, All Animal Clinic, Vetplus Services Clinic, the Veterinary Clinic, Pets and Vets Vet clinic, Dr Trevor's Clinic and the Animal Doctor. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 24 FEBRUARY 2016 News IN ALL LEADING BOOK SHOPS HISTORY OF ORNITHOLOGY IN MALTA MDA calls for task force to tackle bureaucracy THE Malta Developers As- sociation has called for a task force that can tackle govern- ment bureaucracy, complain- ing of a worsening situation for entrepreneurs. "Despite the political will expressed publicly several times by the Prime Minister and other spokesmen of the present government, the situ- ation related to the obstacles every entrepreneur has to face due to excessive bureaucracy by government departments and parastatal bodies has re- mained the same, if not aggra- vated in certain instances," the MDA said. The government has ap- pointed both a commissioner to tackle bureaucracy as well as a parliamentary secretary for the simplification of ad- ministration. "The MDA believes that, if a serious effort is made to lessen this bureaucracy and government entities become truly more efficient, econom- ic progress in the country will be greater than that registered in the past two years," the as- sociation said, adding that ignoring the problem would lower economic growth and discourage investment. "The MDA is recommending that a task force be set up to take this issue seriously and introduce more efficient and less bureaucratic procedures in the various sectors in which bureaucracy has ended up be- ing more of a burden than of benefit to the country." MEPA issues permit to make Centru San Frangisk fully-fledged animal hospital Police union chief accused of acting 'unethically' THE Malta Police Association (MPA) accused the Police Offic- ers Union chief, Sandro Camill- eri, of acting unethically and of "bringing ridicule upon the Po- lice Corps by sowing seeds of di- vision and rivalry between mem- bers of the force." MPA president Malcolm Bon- din said this after Camilleri claimed that the association had agreed with a 2012 agreement which stipulated which ranks would be paid for overtime. Denying the existence of a sec- toral agreement, Bondin said that the MPA never participated in the talks which led to the in- troduction of the 'Document Regulating the Conditions of Service for the Police Force" in 2012. The association also denied Camilleri's claims that Police In- spectors never received overtime payments and confirmed that the government had put the nec- essary funds aside to cover the costs of extra hours due to po- lice officers who were deployed during the Valletta Summit and CHOGM events last year. Bondin went on to ask the gov- ernment "why haven't the pay- ments been executed once the funds had been allocated." The MPA added that Camilleri – who last week backed calls by US police organisations to boy- cott pop star Beyoncé because of her remarks on the treatment of black people by police officers – was only attacking the associa- tion to publicise his union. "Every statement or media ap- pearance of his is more akin to that of a politician in the midst of an electoral campaign than a union leader whose intent is to safeguard the members' rights." Sandro Camilleri was accused of bringing ridicule on the Police force