The Nationalist Party has said that ”despite the millions spent, patients still spend years on waiting lists, while Gozo’s problems remain forgotten.”
The PN highlighted ”Gozo’s hospital. Mgarr Harbour. The Gozo courthouse. Power cuts. The Marsalforn breakwater. St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals. Eighteen-month waiting lists for knee replacements. Cancer medicines. Burnout among healthcare workers. The lack of investment in mental health.”
The Party argued that ”all these issues have been on the national agenda for years. Yet last week, the Government presented another Budget that failed to seriously address healthcare and Gozo’s problems.”
During a press conference addressed by Shadow Minister for Health Stephen Spiteri and Shadow Minister for Gozo Frank Anthony Tabone, the speakers said that the healthcare sector continues to face the same problems. Waiting lists persist. Not all cancer medicines are on the Government Formulary.
They added that ”we still have the same hospitals as before 2013, despite the many promises, plans and press conferences. The service introduced with the private sector to ease pressure on Mater Dei’s Emergency Department has been discontinued. The promised new mental health hospital has vanished into thin air.”
They maintained that the Government is ”turning a blind eye to the realities facing the healthcare sector and is once again failing to plan for the workforce needed to care for us in the years ahead. Meanwhile, it has left today’s healthcare workers suffering from burnout caused by long shifts and heavy workloads.”
They also stated that ”Gozo and its problems have also been left unaddressed.”
The PN Spokesperson said that the ”Government appears to have completely abandoned the plan for a new hospital for Gozitans, despite having promised it 11 years ago.”
They warned that ”the funding allocated to Gozo in this Budget will certainly not be enough to deliver all the projects the Government has promised, including the Gozo Courthouse, the museum that has been ten years in the making and remains unfinished, the Xewkija airfield, the Marsalforn breakwater and improvements to Mgarr Harbour, among many others.”
”The Government has also failed to provide a clear plan to guarantee that Gozitan families and businesses will not once again be left without electricity for days on end next summer,” the spokespersons said.
The Nationalist Party spokespersons also criticised the introduction of tourism measures without consulting Maltese and Gozitan stakeholders, ”with no evidence so far of impact assessments or clear targets setting out what the Government intends to achieve through these measures.”
Photo: PN