If Gaddafi were not dead, we could have assumed that his mate John Dalli had invited him to set up camp in the carpark of his new fiefdom, the hospital
Things went wild this morning when staff at the general hospital saw a large marquee being erected outside the Day Care Unit, in the parking lot, and were told that this is the new waiting area and reception for out-patients.
Meanwhile, the actual reception and waiting area was to be filled with beds, trolleys and stretchers and turned into a makeshift large ward as happens when, for example, there is a terrorist attack or a tornado and emergency measures have to be taken.
There is no such disaster or emergency, however. This Cunning Plan Z is the best our wizards at the general hospital could come up with to sort out the overcrowding we were told would become a thing of the past with a Labour government. Instead, matters appear to have gone from bad to worse.
It is, of course, the former government’s fault, even though they have been out of government for almost a year.
The prime minister has since ordered the marquee to be taken down. Of course he has. It makes his government and all its talk of efficient management look ridiculous. The marquee itself is ridiculous. The very idea that patients should wait outside in a chilly tent so that the reception area can be turned into a scene from Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War is farcical.
And people might ask: why exactly did you make Mr Snus, John Dalli, your health czar and put him in charge of that hospital?
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“It is, of course, the former government’s fault, even though they have been out of government for almost a year.”
And yet nothing of this sort ever happened under the former government. As if people are getting sicker than before. Oh wait. Could it be that we’re all getting sicker hearing all this nonsense?
Can we remind people yet again that it was Sant’s government which converted specialized Sptar San Raffaele into a general hospital resulting in fewer beds than St. Luke’s Hospital?
THAT is the root cause.
And Sant’s comment that it was “state of the art” was not an off-the-cuff comment.
He was the one who decided to double the size of the hospital.
If there were no libel laws I would have said that someone bank-rolled him for that U-turn decision.
P. Sant, We’re getting sicker because of the out of stock of medicines.
Please God make this government GO before more harm is done.
From top to bottom, the ineptitude of this bunch, I hesitate to dignify them by writing ‘government’, is beyond belief.
It is, brace yourself for more.
Last week the top three guys were removed from Delimara, handing over the plant to a trio who never set foot there, the result being one major cock-up in maintenance protocol.
You don’t trip the entire switchboard when isolating a single transformer.
Imagine what they’ll manage when that project is underway, remember the planned phased conversion when Delimara’s running.
I wonder if Dalli got the circus tent from his friend, the circus promoter, mqaret fryer from Sliema.
Ma jrid xejn biex għamel hekk. Ma jistgħux ikunu aktar stupidi… kuljum b’xi bużullotta. Possibbli l-ministru tas-saħħa ma tkellimx mal-kap tiegħu biex jgħidlu bl-idea brillanti li ġietu qabel ma wettaqha? Mela dawn kulħadd jgħassed għal rasu? Ma niflaħx nisma’ iżjed bużullotti. Veru li l-profezija qed isseħħ. Sirna pajjiż tal-mickey mouse.
The Malta Independent: “A security official was heard saying that “we have been waiting for the tent for 25 years”.”
– IQ bankina
Simply put: PL tan-n*jk, Gvern tan-n*jk, Malta taqa’ ghan-n*jk. Above all, a very ‘tan-n*jk Health Minister.
Naqbel mija fil-mija.
U le, kollox jaqa bicciet – bla dawl, bla transport pubbliku, kwazi bla sptar. Tal-misthija.
Give Labour a villa and they turn it into a slum area.
Precisely.
Give Labour a chance imsieken. They’ve been only 9 months in government.
This episode shows up Joseph Muscat for what he is: a brutally tactless limelight-seeker who has no respect for anybody.
A more civilised Prime Minister would have had a quiet word with Godfrey Farrugia and it would have been the Minister himself to backtrack and remove the tent, perhaps saying that alternative arrangements were being organised.
By doing what he did Muscat has publicly overruled and humiliated his own Minister and if Godfrey Farrugia has a shred of dignity left he will resign his post.
It’s not the tent. It’s the way he has been swept aside.
Muscat has made a habit of putting up tents where they’re not needed. Why would Farrugia have thought it wrong to put one up too?
The jellyfish saga must have rubbed off on the minister of health.
If the marquee at Mater Dei was his idea or if he approved it, he is in urgent need of medical help.
If, on the other hand, it was Dalli’s idea then it must be a question of bustarella.
Iddahkux! Gejjin bit-tinda dalghodu! Mela hsibtuna qedin fi zmien l-Fenici jew?
Peppi Azzopardi invited a certain Iona on Xarabank to sing Viva Malta. In Chinese.
Kill. Me. Now.
Jidher li m’għandux xi jġib. U intant biċ-Ċiniż? Biex jogħġob lill-gvern preżenti? Ma jistax ikun aktar lagħqi milli hu! Jien ma rajtux u lanqas narah. Imma kieku kont qed narah kont naqleb fuq stazzjon ieħor mhux LOKALI.
You were right about Joseph Muscat comparing passport sales to the funds the previous government obtained from the EU (see http://www.independent.com.mt/mobile/2014-01-10/news/pm-compares-iip-money-to-eu-funds-3651534848/ )
It turns out it was just an excuse for the PM to wave his willy.
I have a feeling that Joseph Muscat’s cabinet reshuffle is not that far away.
Imma aħna mhux reshuffle għandna bżonn iżda li jwarrbu minhemm illum qabel għada. Tgħid wishful thinking jew….għadna ċans?
The whole idea is tent-e-mawnt to a disaster in itself.
Heard a good comment today. Animals are now banned from being under a tent and instead putting people in tents.
My friend and I were perplexed to see a tent being erected outside the day care centre this afternoon as we left hospital after a day of lectures.
My friend assumed that the PM would be gracing the hospital with his presence and needed the tent to protect him from the damaging rays of the harsh January sun.
I on the other hand believed that the tent was necessary to prevent his scalp getting wet making him look balder than ever.
The true reason for the tent ended up being even more farcical than we thought.
Some good news for Dalli: the hospital IT manager resigned.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140110/local/Health-IT-chief-quits-over-work-issues-.502056#.UtBlt81z9e4
When last November a trailer rolled down Palace square in Valletta we were told that it was there for the installation of Christmas lights. When one compares these two photos one gets the impression that the trailer used today to mount the tent at Mater Dei is the same one that rolled down Palace square.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20131115/local/truck-rolls-off-palace-square-damages-cars-building.494804#.UtBmo9JDvHQ
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140110/local/mater-dei.502132#.UtBm89JDvHQ
The trailer in Palace Square was there to take away Joseph’s unnecessary tent when it was dismantled. Once it was going to be in the area, they reckoned, majtezwell bring in the fairy lights.
And the (tragic) comedy continues. Week 1 or so of 2014 and here’s Labour’s first cock-up of the new year. Laughable and unbelievable; once again utter crap all of them.
Thankfully the government’s first 2014 cock-up was in the second week. We were spared the first week.
In the first week most of the incompetent clowns were away on holiday.
Could this be another case of indirect funding of their electoral campaign?
Is the supplier being used at every conceivable opportunity, however tenuous, the same one that they used in the run up to the election?
The tent on Palace Square was put up so that each minister and PS would give a press conference after each debate on the Budget.
It was a poor PR exercise, costing the people thousands of euros when these press conferences could have been held in the Palace itself. But what the heck, it’s the people’s money.
This government is a government of tents. It wants to project itself as being close to the people: this government is near you; it comes to you in a tent.
I am surprised the Prime Minister has not now ordered the erection of an igloo instead of the tent.
Tony Zahra would be one of the first guests to wait for service.
It seems that we can now do away with the expression “mill-Milied sa San Stiefnu” and start using “minn mindu ttellghet it-tinda as kemm tnizzlet” instead.
No sooner had I seen the tent than I was off to buy the camel.
Would have saved on the soaring price of fuel bought cheaply from Libya and made parking a pleasant chore.