Ċensu Tabone and Gozo

Ten years to the day have passed since the death of Ċensu Tabone (right), a most valiant son of Gozo.

Born in 1913, Tabone climbed tenaciously the ladder of life, at times with great difficulties and surmounting extraordinary challenges but always blessed with a firm belief in his own grit and talents and in the power of love which he received abundantly from his family, followers, friends and, above all, from God.

He kept solidly faithful to a long line of family ancestors who practised the medical profession for the good of others, not for personal gain. Never a man to feel intimidated by the small size of his Gozo, he extended this outlook to his political experiences which led him to fulfil his duties impeccably in several high posts, ending as president of Malta during the years 1989-1994.

Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

After specialising in ophthalmology in the University of Oxford and the Royal College of Surgeons of England, when he was still a young ophthalmologist in 1945, he discovered the cure for trachoma, an eye disease which had caused the blindness of millions around the world. In 1948, trachoma was rife in Gozo.

He was appointed School Medical Officer for Gozo, specifically to carry out an anti-trachoma campaign there which lasted three years, from 1948 to 195I. Meanwhile, he had obtained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1949.

In all, Tabone saw 4,058 Gozitan schoolchildren. Of these, he found 721 to be suffering from trachoma and 270 from a less intense or widespread form of eye infection, conjunctivitis, which could, however, lead to trachoma if neglected.

Tabone also saw members of their families, not restricting the survey to schoolchildren alone.

He succeeded and when his findings were published shortly after internationally on the British Medical Journal, in 1952 Tabone was the first ophthalmologist to be engaged as a consultant by the World Health Organisation. He travelled widely in the Far East to introduce new practical methods to eradicate this eye disease. And the blueprint map of action was based on the one he had used for his dear Gozo. The name of this small island resounded far away across the seas and oceans.

When he later took up politics, he always kept in mind the hardships which his fellow Gozitans experienced and he assertively tackled them, including his successful insistence to better the transport and communication system between Malta and Gozo and introduced a systematic establishment of industries to enable Gozitans find work without having to leave their homeland. He never missed a chance to address the people of Malta as Maltin u Għawdxin; and he did this with great pride.

Right to the end, he remained steadfast in his desire to rest in his timeless sleep within the grounds of his beloved island, Gozo, and that is where he lies.

Ten years have passed since his death and, still, there is no road or street bearing his name on his beloved island. There is no monument or statue reminding the Gozitans of this great son of Gozo.

The island who was loved so much seems to be ungratefully oblivious of the honour it bore.

Philip Farrugia Randon – St Julian’s