Resign, says Denis Catania
It is obligatory for every exchange of views in this place to end with a demand for somebody’s resignation, which has done more than a little to devalue that stratagem.
Now Denis Catania, the one who campaigns against illegal immigration in Malta all the way from his permanent home in the United States, has called for the resignation of the director-general of public health and of the minister of health.
Catania has been kind enough to publish the relevant correspondence. This is not a spoof, but you will end up asking yourself: who are all these crazy people and in which part of the woodwork have they been lurking until now?
Email from Denis Catania to the Minister of Health
Dear John Dalli,I’m appalled at the fact that illegal immigrants are not given HIV test and we don’t keep records on Hepatitis B or C on illegal immigrants. How can we not know if infected HIV illegal immigrants are still in Malta. If this policy is not reversed, I believe you should resign.
Regards,
Denis Catania
Email from Dr Ray Busuttil, director-general, Public Health Regulation, to Denis Catania
Irregular migrants that come to Malta are screened for those medical conditions which are deemed to cause a public health threat. Such conditions usually involve airborne/droplet-transmitted infections and those transmitted by direct contact. This primarily involves tuberculosis and other contagious skin manifestations. Sexually-transmitted and blood-borne diseases are not considered to cause such a threat. Their mode of transmission is behaviour-determined and therefore if the latter is addressed there is no need for screening. If screening was to be advocated for such conditions, then we should also be screening the local population as well as all the tourists coming to Malta, as they too pose the same risk to the rest of the population. In this regard, irregular migrants are treated in the same way as local nationals and testing for the presence of the conditions mentioned is only carried out if it is clinically indicated.
R. Busuttil
Director-General
Public Health RegulationEmail from Denis Catania to the director-general, Public Health Regulation
Dear Dr R. Busuttil,
This is appalling. To place illegal immigrants in the same position as our valued tourists and the Maltese population. These illegals come from parts of the world where HIV is high among their citizens. As stated by the World Health Organization. Please understand in no way I’m saying to quarantine anyone. But when an immigrant legal or not. Know that he is HIV positive. I believe they can enjoy life and be safe through others through education. I’m sorry you don’t feel the need to test all immigrant legal or not for HIV. When applying to eneter Malta or captured at sea trying to enter illegally.
This put illegals, Maltese population and our valued tourist in great danger. Immigration whether it’s legal or not is a privilege and not a right. I guess in Malta it becomes a right.
As a concerned Maltese Citizen I would have to call for your resignation.
Regards,
Denis Catania
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The ultimate patriot all the way from NYC… How touching. In an ideal world, he’d shut the hell up and enjoy the Bronx by night…Well, coming to think of it we’re rather lucky he’s not dedicated enough to move back to Malta and fight for his warped ideas in person. I doubt I’d think twice if I had the chance to run people like this over if they were protesting on the streets…
Jon Mallia: He is coming back to Malta, albeit temporarily. He will be at Cirkewwa to greet the great people of Gozo with a sound truck prior to running a carcade through our streets, generating more pollution and cacophony than he can manage through his missives from the US.
Maybe this guy’s first name should start with a similar consonant with an added stroke pointing downwards.
This article claims there are/were 11 million illegal immigrants in the US. You’d think that’s more than enough to keep Denis Catania busy. Instead, he hunkers down on 5,000 people in the Mediterranean instead of looking at what’s happening in his own back yard.
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/21/opinion/oe-chavez21
Dr Busuttil should have ignored Catania’s first letter.
Antoine Vella: I disagree. We would have been deprived of a dose of entertainment.
This fellow is so obsessed with being accepted as Maltese by the Maltese that he tries to be more Maltese than the Maltese. Anyone know of a good therapist in New York?
No one should be surprised by the asinine warblings of Mr. Catania, since he continually persists in dispensing his misguided ‘thoughts’ daily. However, I am somewhat surprised that Dr. Busuttil dignifies these crack-pot meanderings by responding.
If Catania lives in the US, he must be aware that in the US, the reported estimate of illegal immigrants amounts to 11 – 14 million. He must also be aware that these illegal immigrants manage to obtain jobs in all sectors of the economy, even with firms which obtain contracts from local and federal government (mainly cleaning, maintenance etc). Once employed by these companies (contracted to offer cleaning and maintenance services to the federal government) illegal immigrants have access to federal buildings, offices, airports etc. and nobody really makes a fuss about that. Illegal immigrants are also involved in the construction of public infrastructure.
The children of illegal immigrants also attend public schools free of charge, because authorities believe, and rightly so, that it is better to have a child at school rather than roaming the streets, with a high probability that the child will eventually join a gang or engage in criminal activity. Illegal immigrants have a right to be treated in any hospital in emergency cases.
So I cannot understand why this Catania from the USA is making such a fuss about Malta. I have my doubts that he actually lives in the US. In the US illegal immigration is also a current issue, but most economists believe that there is a positive element in the fact that these illegal immigrants are employed in the US. They drive down the cost of services, plus nobody is willing to do certain jobs anyway.
It looks like Denis has been browsing through the dictionary and has discovered the word ‘appalling’ which, like a good boy, he promptly used in both his letters.
So sad but so funny. Keep it up Denis! “To place illegal immigrants in the same position as our valued tourists and the Maltese population” i.e. no money to spend therefore fewer rights.