Tiresome schoolboys
Published:
February 14, 2010 at 12:22pm
If you don't look at me, I'll send out an email
I liked the prime minister’s reprimand to his MPs this morning: that they are there to serve, and not to be served. Funny how it’s the least deserving who always think they deserve the most.
By sending out that email, Jean Pierre Farrugia only demonstrated just how wise the prime minister was not to give him any position of responsibility.
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I agree with you 100%!
I understand that the feeling of not being listened to could be frustrating for Jean Pierre Farrugia. Whatever his concerns are, however, it is the PM’s responsibility to look at the whole picture.
The country’s interests necessitates that all PN back benchers support government. This does not preclude them from lobbying the PM, Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries on issues which they feel are important, provided it is done discreetly.
Dear honourable gentlemen of the PN back-bench, since you’re all so clever, and Gonzi doesn’t know what he’s doing, why don’t you topple the government and then contest the resulting election by forming a party of your own?
Go on, cut the talk and the feet-stamping and show us what you’re made of.
Or are you maybe not so sure that the thousands of voters you claim to represent would vote for you again, without the PN emblem beside your name on the ballot paper?
Since the PN – on whose ticket you seem to have forgotten you were elected – doesn’t seem to appreciate your collective genius, try contesting as independents or by forming a new party, why don’t you?
Another alternative would be to resign from parliament and from the PN, but how would your over-inflated egos survive then?
If you’re not prepared to follow any one of these options, please just shut it, because in colloquial Maltese “qazziztuha”.
Come 2013, assuming the government is still standing, the electorate will then show you what they think of you.
The behaviour of the disgruntled PN backbenchers – they need not describe themselves otherwise – fully justifies the fact that they have not been given a ministerial or a parliamentary secretariat post. They are acting like immature teenagers. If they were to shut up they might give a better impression. Ministers of state must be highly competent, reliable and loyal. None of them has these qualities.
I just do not know what is happening to these persons of my generation.
[Daphne = You unwittingly hit the nail on the head by identifying the fact that they are all of the same generation. In simple language, it’s called a massive mid-life crisis.]
Similarly to Jeffrey, I have known Jean Pierre for ages and we were both in the thick of it in the 80s.
Now I really cannot recognise them anymore – could it be midlife crisis? Funny but at least it has still to affect me – hope it takes some more time.
Everyone’s on a power trip that’s what. People fail to understand that being appointed to parliament is not a question of serving one’s own interest but that of the nation and if that means having to abide by a decision of you’re party leader done in the best interest of the island so be it. These heroes all think about what they’re going to thrive first before confronting the idea that they form part of a team which serves a bigger purpose.
Daphne, I think you’re missing the point here. There MUST be something wrong going on if not one, not two, not three, but at least four MPs start showing their dissent to the status quo. They can’t be all rubbing their ego.
[Daphne – There are always people who want more than they deserve or can get. This is in any organisation/situation and not just in government. They will push the boundaries as far as they think they can. These MPs believe that the Nationalist Party will not be re-elected in 2013, and so they feel they have little or nothing to lose by holding their boss to ransom. They would not have done it in 1987 or in 1992. The wrong is all in the MPs themselves. They are disloyal, selfish and not worthy of their seat.]
And, I suspect, when the PN gets creamed in 2013, they will blame all ‘the others’, including the PM, who didn’t listen to their advice and attempt to emerge from the ashes with their heads held high.
These things are contagious. They gang up and feel important as a group. They try to find strength in numbers. There is only one question I would like to ask them. Let us say that they are right only for argument’s sake. Do they believe that we will be better off with a ‘schoolboy’ for prime minister?
Wise and shrewd was Lino Spiteri in his column. Gonzi is livng in a prison state in Castille. I guess he does get it right. We’ll see how Gonzi evolves in the coming year.
I have also read Fr. Joe Borg’s opinion in The Sunday Times today, and he is the only journalist who had the guts to speak out in your favour re all you have been writing about the magistrate’s issues.
A public person has his private life on hold. Some persons writng here do not seem to understand this. If you don’t want to let everyone know how you live your life, do it behind closed doors, and not show it off for all Malta and the world to see.
I am looking forward to the day that all those journalists who feel that they need to expose a public person would feel comfortable to do it like you have done here.
Hope that you, Daphne, have started a trend and htat all those other journalists who have a duty to report items that do not seem right to them pass on their feelings to us the general public.
It’s not a case of doing sleazy journalism. It’s just a case of reporting all sorts of abuses by persons who were selected to make judgement on persons that abuse the system in one way or another. Thanks for having the courage to keep on going. Good luck.
Isa, whoever you are, I applaud you as I do Father Joe.
You both hit the nail on the head and I just hope a few decent journalists will show their mettle and follow suit. They will have the public’s support that’s for sure.
Cannot the backbenchers sort out their problems within the party without giving the opposition pleasure and more opportunities to hit out against the present government? I must admit Super One have an easy task because they do not need to search for news items as their agenda is ‘anything against government’.
He is a GP and doesn’t want to treat people for free. It’s extra work for him. That’s why he is opposed to the primary health care reform.
Here I would like to butt in. Not because I agree with what Jean Pierre has done but because on each and every occasion I and many others went to him when feeling unwell, although he isn’t our regular GP, his fee was next to nothing.
[Daphne – Well, Karl, you pay peanuts and you get monkeys. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that.]
Daphne, Clive, I do not think these last two comments are fair. Sending that email to all back benchers was a big mistake and I hope Jean Pierre Farrugia realises this. On the other hand, Jean Pierre is a person who genuinely cares about people. You may think me naïve, but this, I believe, is what motivates his stand on health care reform. It is also the reason why he charges reasonable rates to his clients.
Opus dei u mhux opus dei, il-kilba ghal poter tolqot lil kullhadd.
Well said. May all the so-called disgruntled back-benchers be reminded that they were elected on the Gonzi PN ticket.
Spot on, Daphne. His father must be turning in his grave.
I am afraid that the harm is, at this point, beyond repair.
The harm is beyond repair, and the ex Super One reporter who wants to be prime minister is feasting on it.
It is true that these MPs feel frustrated and act the way they act, and they should be more responsible, knowing that the Maltese voter first decide which party to vote for and than which candidate to choose. Voters are more loyal to their party than to their candidate.
Why do we need a parliament of 65 people when only say 10 people run the country? And the others are there only to vote in favour or against a motion presented by the other 10.
Why all these salaries and benefit costs to these parliamentarians, when they should be assigned duties rather sitting there? When you complain about shortcomings in this country they say we are short of human resources, but am I to believe that we are short of management ideas and waste of resources?
It was Thomas Paine that once said: “Lead, follow, or get out of the way”. If they really think that they can lead, then they should take the initiative and start projects, studies etc to bring a higher level of debate in the society. That way they could be contributing. Otherwise they should take one of the other two routes.
I was also struck by another quote lately that can show the difference between Joseph Muscat and Lawrence Gonzi. This is attributed to Thatcher: “Being a leader is like being a lady, if you have to go around telling people you are one, you aren’t.”
I thought it might be of interest to share it here.
May I add one Snoopy?
The winner has a solution for every problem; the loser has a problem for every solution.
“Being a leader is like being a lady, if you have to go around telling people you are one, you aren’t”
Pity only dictators, like oh, for example Napoleon or Stalin or Hitler or Mussolini could manage their image so well…
You need a chorus of opinion leaders that remind the subjects that the leader is in fact a hero. We get plenty of those on both sides. Some do their job admirably, but others are plainly clueless.
Agree with you david g. A parliament with thirty-nine seats plus the local councils should be more than enough for a small country with a population of 400,000. Wherever I’ve worked, the troublemakers were those with the most time on their hands.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100214/religion/unguilded-silence
The Consie ‘n’ Robbie Brigata are busy attacking Fr Joe Borg here:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100214/religion/unguilded-silence
I would ordinarily tend to agree with you, but have reservations on this one. I do not recall Jean Pierre Farrugia having written to the press, but to his own legally voted parliamentarians. If there is a problem there (of leaking information), I hardly think we should all blame him.
[Daphne – Pause a while, as I bang my head against a brick wall. Of course we should blame him. There is nothing STUPIDER than putting such thoughts into writing and – worse than writing – in an email, then worse even than that, round-robining it to tens of MPs. it is OBVIOUSLY going to end up with the press. Middle-aged people and the internet – can’t be trusted!]
Also, lately, we have seen many back-benchers acting less than professionally and the situation is worrying. This is our parliamentary group, and if it is not a good one, then our selection process is more than faulty.
After all, these are the people we have elected and if they are mouldy, we have a big problem indeed. That Dr. Gonzi does not trust most of the people he must work with is an even bigger problem.
I trust Dr. Gonzi and was one of the very first to think of him as a suitable substitute for the greatest statesman Malta has ever seen (Fenech Adami), and his job is not an easy one. But now I think he is missing the bus here. One cannot simply ignore the tools he must work with, especially if times are as fragile as they get.
Each one of these rotten apples, some you have exposed just lately, deserves to go down, and I agree it must be particularly frustrating for the PM to have to deal with them.
But Jean Pierre Farrugia has worked for the party wholeheartedly and helped build MZPN at the worst of times. Is it possible he’s not even worth consulting?
[Daphne – I would say so. Let’s put it like this: I would never consult a man silly enough to do what he did with that email. If I wanted sound advice, I’m afraid I would go elsewhere. Even I know not to do that with emails, and I’m not in politics.]
Let’s face it, others in government are not doing that good a job are they and having a helping hand could serve to improve and alleviate some of the burden.
Is a reduced governing team better? Or does it only serve to keep better control over our own corrupt practices? Is this is the case then the party is in trouble and a solution should be found, even at the cost of re-election – throw out the garbage (like Pullicino Orlando).
Joseph Muscat is in a worse situation with his own people anyway. Can we risk it? Well that’s difficult to tell, but can we NOT risk it? Perhaps we can wait it out till the next general election.
It just seems incredible that all these back-benchers, all of a sudden, are behaving so badly. Why are so many so-called adults behaving like kids?
They’re middle-aged. Don’t you see a pattern that cuts across the issues raised this week?
Although I have been following this blog for more than a year, this is actually my first comment.
What I cannot understand here is that outside the Pieta’ headquarters there are a number of people (quite a substantial number indeed) who do not bother to be members of the Nationalist Party because they do not have time, they are uninterested in the everyday running and they do not need the eudaemonic perks of party membership.
All they know is that they have been loyal to this party through thick and thin for the simple reason that it was this party that has guaranteed prosperity, democracy, peace, pluralism, a better quality of life, stability and a proper western culture. Moreover, they also know that the other party is still unsuitable to govern because they lack the right ideology though they have a good presentation wrapper – but if you dig deep you will find nothing of quality and worth the paper it is written on.
However, these people are fed up with back-benchers who really suck! These back-benchers are nothing more than cheats. They have used this party for their selfish ends.
Dear back-benchers: Yes, you HAVE to be loyal to the PM. Yes, you HAVE to be loyal to the party because without the party you would have gone nowhere. The people did not choose you but they chose you to represent them in parliament under the PN umbrella. They voted for the PN electoral manifesto; they voted for the party first and foremost.
Pullicino Orlando used the party when he was on the verge of drowning and clutching at every possible straw. Now he wants to squeeze and squeeze more out of the party.
Why does not he shut up and cross the floor? He would be their hero for the day and will get about 48 hours of extreme limelight, but after that? He would be a big zero.
Arrigo wants a position of power, but how can such an influential businessman want a ministry? Is he crazy? What about conflict of interest?
However, the fact that personal emails were leaked to the media shows their lack of professionalism, dignity, and honour. So the prime minister was 101% right in his decision about them. Not to leak emails or other private information is the basis of loyalty an organisation expects from each and every person who works for it.
What would Arrigo say if one of his employees had to leak or circulate personal information? I guess he would send him to ETC as soon as possible.
Grow up! Have not you realised that YOU back-benchers are a source of instability not to the party but to the country? A source of creating administrative hurdles to the government‘s work programme? Why do not you thank God that you are dealing with Gonzi and not with Gatt or Dalli?
I, for one think that the public health reform is something which cannot work. Jean Pierre knows what he’s saying, and we have been promised that public health was going to be free.
Can anyone in his senses oblige a 50-something doctor to start using a computer?
[Daphne – My parents are 71, and they use computers, email and the internet perfectly well, besides having the sense not to set up a Facebook account. But maybe that’s just something that runs in the family.]
And if the doctor with whom I’m registered is on holiday, where shall I go? And if all doctors do not want to be part of the system what happens? Where do the company doctors fit in this so called reform, would they be given the right to open your personal hospital files from their computers?
Let’s be frank: John Dalli put a bomb under Gonzi’s seat before he renounced his seat and lit the fuse. I read Dr Farrugia’s email and I find nothing wrong in it; it shows that there is a frank dialogue going on behind the scenes.
[Daphne – But that’s just the point, John. It WASN’T behind the scenes. If you want a discussion to stay within a group, you don’t email untold numbers of people and expect them to keep it private. That’s either pig-minded stupidity (middle-aged people not knowing how the internet works, again) or deliberate sabotage.]
It could be that Dr Gonzi has too much to do, like Eddie Fenech Adami pointed out lately. The ‘mistake’ is that this frank discussion was made public.
John – this document is a discussion document – so it should and will change. It might also never see the light of day.
Overall we need to reorganise our system both from the patient’s as well as the GPs’ (and later private specialists) point of view.
The patients need to forget the socialist ideas i.e. they can go when they feel like for any symptom whatsoever. When I used to work at Health Centres (over 20 years ago), it was not the first time that someone would pass by at around 4am to check his blood pressure before going hunting or fishing.
And once I had a parent bringing in his child at 2am with a simple cough so that, as he explained, she could take her medicine before going swimming in the morning.
Thus a system of appointments and some order is in place.
From the GP’s point of view, the need of group practice is also important as well as a better interaction with the hospital system. This should also ensure a lower rate of patients going straight to the emergency department as well as a lower admission rate.
The system is open: you can be part of it or not.
Those of low income (and I believe that most of these are leeching out of the social benefits system) will be seen free of charge (in actual fact the GP here might be losing some money – but they have not brought up this matter, so it seems that they are not so worried) while the rest will pay the normal fees.
As someone has written above, these are quite low, ranging from 5 to 10 euros per visit – my car electrician charges 20 euros for a change of fuse – so again this should not be a burden on those who can afford it.
My calculations are that at most a family might require the services of a doctor once a month i.e. 12 times a year at a cost of 10 euros per visit. This would total 120 euros per year – slightly more than lunch at a decent restaurant.
“The patients need to forget the socialist ideas”
“When I used to work at Health Centres”
“not the first time that someone would pass by at around 4am to check his blood pressure”
“once I had a parent bringing in his child at 2am with a simple cough”
the vagueness is astounding. I see rightwingers still find it easy to pillory socialism.
“This would total 120 euros per year – slightly more than lunch at a decent restaurant”
Tell that to a family barely living from pay-cheque to pay-cheque.
I agree, though, that there should be some rationalisation, as ironically the rich abuse the system as well (or more so) because they feel entitled due to their special status. And that’s some socialist bigotry from my side.
[Daphne – The special status of the ‘rich’ in ‘abusing the system’ is this: they are the ones paying for it. It is far more abusive to force them to fund health care through their taxes while denying them the use of it.]
Daphne, I talked to three doctors about this computer thing. They just couldn’t be bothered. One told me that he NEVER uses a computer. Another just surfs the net and sends some emails. He told me that when he goes out on a house call, would he be expected to climb three storeys with a bag AND a lap-top?
A doctor who is in demand in an area starts his working day at around 06.30, takes a break at around 13.30, and starts again at around 15.00 to stop at 20.30 or 21.00.
Can the doctor afford five minutes on the lap-top for every client? Another doctor told me that referrals for an appointment with a specialist have always been done by doctors from time immemorial.
John Dalli did not do enough preparatory work on this reform. It’s half baked. His reforms at Mater Dei Hospital will work because they were well planned.
It seems that these doctors have never heard of PDAs or netbooks or iPads.
We are living in the year 2010 – proper record-taking is both beneficial for the patient as well as the good insurance in cases of medico-legal cases. The other use, i.e. of being able to access patients hospital records, that is required only from the clinic.
Overall this is a free to enter/leave system, so these three doctors can stay out. Do not forget that this consultation document has been received quite positively by the College of Family Practitioners, the college that represents GPs.
John, I cannot agree with you. I also cannot agree with this wholesale denigration of Jean Pierre Farrugia. I know him, he is not your usual Pullicino Orlando. Jean Pierre has been through the thick of it in the 1980s, besides having also to deal with a very real personal situation. He has had more on his plate than most. He is also a good GP. He does stand by his principles. Like all of us, however, he makes mistakes.
Indeed, Jean Pierre was tricked into expressing his emotions. He sent an email to his peers, and someone leaked it. Now, we all know not to trust emails of the sort. It’s just not smart, and he wasnt smart in doing so. But he is by no means a rebel.
His disagreement on GP reform is principled but misguided by lack of information. The reform in itself seeks to put GP’s in the position they deserve as gatekeepers.
The situation now is ludicrous, with consultants acting as GPs because people, in overkill, go to a consultant for minor ailments when a GP can do just as well, and provide continuity of care.
Your GP knows you and your family history more than any one-time consultant. This is what the reform is trying to give back to the people. That’s why GPs elsewhere in Europe have regained this position in the community, because they are key to better health care, as they were earlier on.
Your GP was practically a member of the family once. We have lost that, and now we end up with the Casualty Department full of people who should be treated in their home town and village by a GP. But no. We don’t want to pay the relative pittance that GPs get, so we go to the polyclinics or even worse casualty, to be seen by a doctor who is not available, because of the shift system, for follow-ups.
As for your comment on laptops, it’s high time health records were kept for the benefit of the patient. That record can then be seen by anyone the patient gives access to, especially when he needs secondary care. You cannot imagine the benefits of IT, this sort of IT, in health care.
This reform is not half baked. To his credit, Joe Cassar is consulting with everybody on this. He is doing a good job, meeting everyone, and taking on board suggestions. It’s the misguided doctor who will not embrace reform.
As for computers, I know 85-year-old doctors in the UK who use computers with no problems at all. It’s all in the mind. If you do not want to use it, then you are a relic before even being buried in the ground.
John, I don’t agree with you in this, at all. Dooctors should be up to date with the times, not using the computer is not an option. The vet who looked after my cat kept a record of the cat’s visits and would load up my cat’s record at every visit.
So why not a GP when dealing with humans?
Group practice would solve the problem of when a doctor is ill or on holiday.
How can a doctor give a better service if he doesn’t have access to the patients’ history, which will be available to all of them without paying anything for this data?
General practitioners are what they are, but if we want a more efficient service by our GPs then they will have to update their knowledge and their service too. Let’s not delude ourselves. The system itself is rotten. And we get what we are paying for. There are almost a third of our country’s citizens who cannot afford medicines let alone paying higher fees for doctors’ advice.
@John Schembri
“Can the doctor afford five minutes on the lap-top for every client?”
Evidently John Schembri does not use a computer or laptop in his line of work. The one or two minutes spent by the doctor inputting data will make it easier for him to assess the patient on his next visit because all relevant information is readily available.
I know one doctor who carries around with him a suitcase full of hard copies of patients’ files. This is hardly a practical solution for the storage and retrieval of information.
A laptop can keep loads and loads of information with the added advantage that it can be searched and accessed within seconds. Sharing of information with the hospital files will make it an even stronger tool for the doctor.
@ Mario Debono: I did not attack Jean Pierre Farrugia. I have great esteem for the doctor. All I said was that he was being frank with Gonzi, who is overworked.
Please observe the amount of travelling a prime minister in the EU has to do, over and above that Dr Gonzi doesn’t take the mini holidays Fenech Adami used to take. Dr Gonzi is the only Maltese PM yet who has the EU breathing down his neck; no other Maltese PM has experienced this before him.
I noticed that in his Sunday morning meetings Dr Gonzi is inviting a back bencher to speak.
Last week there were a couple of gentlemen competing as to who will marry you. Did not see any of them posting you HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY messages. Imisshom jisthu. And since you receive plenty of hate messages on this blog I hope this one makes up just a little bit. Happy Valentines Day to you and all those who have at heart.
[Daphne – Thank you.]
You are right, Claude. I should be ashamed. Three minutes to go. Am I in time, D? Hope you had a great day. And good luck. We’re right behind you.
Daphne just a suggestion: I’m not very IT savvy but could you see with your developers if they could create some form of post tracking. I often try and see what comments you or your readers would have posted with reference to comments I have made and I do not always manage to find my comments. I just found one now where there was a question made and I replied. Obviously, if it is very complicated then forget it but some sort of search by name would do.
[Daphne – Click the FOLLOW box at the top right-hand corner of the home page.]
I miss the old layout where links to the most recent posts would be highlighted in a little box on the side. Can you bring this bit back? Happy Valentine’s day by the way.
So do I. Lino could it be that we are growing old?
@Lino Cert and John Schembri
You could try RSS feeds to get latest updates on posts or comments (you can choose between them):
http://websearch.about.com/od/rssfeedsreaders/ht/rss_feeds.htm
Kisses for Daphne xxxxx =)
@ John Schembri
If the doctors cannot master a computer, how are they expected to keep up with modern medicine and new techniques?
Doctors are entitled to time off and usually make arrangements with other doctors to fill in.
Dalli did not leave a bomb under Dr. Gonzi’s seat because it was Gonzi himself who nominated him for the position of Commissioner.
Dr.Farrugia et al have exceeded their parameters and will pay a political price for what they are babbling about!
Jomar, he is 70 and isn’t interested in computers but his experience in diagnosing an ailment is a hundred times better than the best and latest equipment in medicine. Coming from Zurrieq probably Mario Debono knows the old doctor to whom I’m referring.
John, of course I know who he is. He is practically my parents’ nextdoor neighbour. His experience is legendary. But his memory is not, like the rest of us. That’s where IT comes into play. It can save lives.
I know of a particular case, long ago, involving the same doctor, who unknowingly prescribed medications that nearly did someone in, because he wasn’t aware that the patient had a rare form of allergy.
Thank God, it was written in the hospital file, and the patient was saved. That patient happened to be a relative of mine. And if the doctor had a computer and was able to access the patient’s medical record, he would have avoided this mistake. This is just a little tip of the iceberg.
I agree with Lino Cert Daphne. It was much easier before. Now there is also something else that I liked before. I didn’t need to go back up and read all the posts again because new ones would have been inserted in the meantime.
I don’t think I’ve been very clear here but I’m sure you know what I mean. Anyway, it’s been an incredible couple of weeks on this blog.
[Daphne – The old design and function wasn’t practical for frequent updating. This is much more efficient, even for those who use it. It’s not practical any more to have a ‘recent comments’ bar, because when there are around 100 comments a day coming in, and sometimes more, it just doesn’t make sense to have the latest four or five showing up.]
Am still digesting it all. As I don’t live on the rock, I had already been quite shocked by the Arrigo shenanigans and now all this. Seems like somebody needs to clean out the Augean stables.
Thanks for answering, Daphne. I will get used to it sooner or later…
What worries me more than anything else in this sorry saga is the possibility of the government falling and that ‘still wet behind the ears’ bloke has a chance to play at being PM.
I hate to think what will happen to the economy. They will be changing policies and decisions every five minutes and Malta might end up being one of the ‘PIGS’ countries. Really doesn’t bear thinking about.
Robert Musumeci, Robert Arrigo, Jean Pierre Farrugia, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Jesmond Mugliett, Franco Debono etc have all voiced their disagreements with the Prime Minister and the way they are running the government.
And you and a very few others still insist that the Prime Minister and those loyal to him are right on every issue.
For example, in my opinion the issues raised by Franco Debono are very valid, especially on the power station, the dust problem and so on.
Maybe you don’t care what the people in the south feel, however, this is not right we are talking about people not rats. After all the Prime Minister lives in the south.
It is not the raising of issues – that is positive, it is the way you do it and the arrogance by which you do it.
Even if Jeffrey disagreed with the St John’s project, he should have waited for the full report by the experts and maybe put his views to the MEPA board and not use half-baked information and threaten not to vote in parliament. His most recent comments about the reshuffle were completely out pf place, unwarranted and helped no one except that opportunist leading the party with no name.
As for Jean Pierre, he knows pretty well that the document is a consultative document that was most probably written by a very small group of people (I believe not more than 5) but is now completely open for discussion and will have a number of additions and deletions. What he should be doing is taking part in the discussion especially within the College of Family Practitioners and acting for public consumption.
The case of Franco Debono is even worse as he took the wrong action, in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Besides, the problem is not only with the unidentified black dust of the south, but – especially in the north – with a large quantity of submicron, which is white dust mixed with deadly hydrocarbon molecules that just stick to your lung. And I have still got to hear any MPs (including those of the nameless party) put up any protest against this dust.
Those who knew Jean-Pierre Farrugia’s father will vouch for the fact that he was no lackey either. Does one have to be a businessman to be a good doctor?
I have a good idea of what Jean Pierre Farrugia’s father is doing in his grave. I knew him well. He is smiling. Like father like son. Both awful politicians and perfect gentlemen. By the way, may I also add something which is probably irrelevant in this context, both family doctors of the old school and of the first order. For them the patient is the king.
I recently went to our GP who prescribed some antibiotics. I mentioned that a few years ago I had taken some which had caused an allergic reaction.
I had no idea what they were and, obviously neither did he. In this day and age with IT available I think it’s downright irresponsible not to have up to date records on computers.
Any one who is not illiterate can easily learn how to input the necessary info – after all it’s just a case of filling in the blanks.
I spoke to an elderly priest recently who learned how to use e-mail and internet because the Archbishop communicates by e-mail.
Daphne,
I follow your blog because it is simply entertaining to read your articles which hit home as to what you basically have in your mind, while other journalists tend to circle around many petty details and lose out on the real argument.
However, allow me to add that your comments about Dr.Jean Pierre Farrugia are neither very insightful nor a great example of unbiased journalism.
Don’t you think that after we read today’s newspapers that Dr. Cassar, health minister, that changes will be made from the original proposals for this important health reform, some credit must be attributed to Dr. Jean Pierre Farrugia?
It would be hard to imagine a parliamentary system anywhere in which the health minister would not be questioned on such an important reform!
[Daphne – Nobody is questioning – still less me – Jean Pierre Farrugia’s duty, as distinct from right, to challenge aspects of reform proposals. That is what MPs are there for. What brought both his sense of judgement and his loyalty into doubt was his decision to circulate as a round-robin an email message which he had sent already to the prime minister. If he didn’t foresee that it would be leaked, it was folly of the first order. If he did foresee that it would be leaked, then this was dastardly. In fact, the act of circulating that email has completely overshadowed its content.]
Daphne, Dr Jean Pierre Farrugia is a very honest person. He judges his colleagues like many people do: he thinks that all are like him. It wouldn’t even cross his mind that someone would forward to the newspapers what he wrote to his colleagues.
Having known the good doctor Farrugia for a number of years, I can pretty much vouch for his loyalty towards the Nationalist Party and to his Christian Democratic values – values well in favour of the national interest.
If an ‘awful politician’ has the ability to single-handedly brake his party’s free fall in such an essential social matter, then let us have more of it.
[Daphne – Without the attendant drama, stupidities, round-robin emails and quotes to Super One and Malta Today, and I’m not only referring to Jean Pierre here.]
Did you read the consultation document or just heard what the PL have been repeating?
Because if a consultation document that plans to put Malta’s GP practice on a sound, 2010, technolgical basis is a free fall, then I have reason to believe that you did not even bother reading the document.
Just in case this is the link:http://www.thesynapse.net/download/HCR20091207.pdf
Dr Farrugia is not a tiresome schoolboy. His agenda is the common good. He’s not asking for some MEPA permit. After all, this issue was not in the PN election programme.
I too have to say that Jean Pierre did not deserve such a harsh comment. He is very loyal to his patients and seeks their interests first.
It was either in this blog or in one of your opinion pieces where the issue of certain doctors who might be solely motivated by financial interests in the running of their profession and who pleasing the big pharma marketing lobby in their prescriptions even for a minor infection which can be resolve on its own.
Jean Pierre contrasts by far with such behaviour. I too share some concerns on the proposed reform.
(1) Would the GP rates increase if the demand for their service will increase follwoing the basic economic principle of supply and demand?
(2) If such scenario would materialise, would low income earners have a very limited access to free health care, thus creating a social inequality? Those who can afford and those who not stay without health care.
In the USA, President Obama is trying to make health care accessible to everyone. Would the proposed reform be doing the reverse, If this was the case the Nationalist party would be only paying lip service to Demo-Christian values it claims to believe in. It would not be the PN we believed in.
Daphne, such a professional critic should SURELY know the definition of the word DEMOCRACY. Has the party reached so much the bottom that no one in the knowhow could express his views and disagreement. I’m sure that a serious party would appreciate constructive critisism (and I am sure that the party including the leader appreciates this). I think the party requires many other JPs with good principles and moral values. Who really knows this Doctor is surely aware of this! I think you don’t know him enough.(he’s not your type) His father was in politics not for personal gain ( like 95% of the MPs but to serve loyally. If you want to know more about his father go back in time to the 70’s & 80’s and you will realise that Dr.Herman Farrugia was never attacked by anyone for political and professional dishonesty. His son is his equal. Like father like son. You seem to respect and give a political push to YES MEN!!!!! Now I really know who DCG is.
The document is a consultation document. It was open for consultation for weeks and the Minister had a number of consultation sessions with both doctors’ association as well as patients groups.
If this is not democracy was is – the 1977 Mintoff style of health reform?