A Marsascala woman who is undergoing chemotherapy paid to spend the night in a hotel after a prolonged power cut left her and her family suffering in the heat and darkness for over 17 hours.

The woman’s daughter, who asked not to be named, said the family was forced to seek a hotel room for the night in order to preserve her mother’s health and comfort.

On Friday Enemalta’s CEO apologised for power cuts that earlier this week left swathes of households without electricity for hours on end.

The Marsascala woman told Times of Malta that the power went out just before midnight on Wednesday and only came back for a brief spell in the afternoon before going down again.

After a sleepless night suffering the heat and a chemotherapy session on Thursday, the woman’s family decided it would not be undergoing the same ordeal for another night.

“This is a disastrous situation that could have absolutely been avoided,” the woman’s daughter told Times of Malta.

“It has placed a lot of unnecessary burden on us. All the food had to be thrown away, something my mother had to deal with by herself while I was at work.

“And it’s not just a matter of being picky. We have to be very careful with food as we do everything we can so my mother can avoid infections.”

She expressed frustration at having been put in that position, particularly due to her mother’s illness.

“It’s a very serious situation. People have and can, God forbid, die from heatstroke,” she said.

“We’re lucky to an extent because if you don’t afford a hotel you are left in this situation and hotels are not cheap in the peak season.

“It’s not just my mother, the elderly and sick are likely in the same scenario, we need to think of them as well.”

Stuck on ground floor, drenched in sweat

Mary Muscat, whose 13-year-old daughter, Justine, makes use of a wheelchair, said the young one was confined to the ground floor of the summer school she attends in Marsascala after the power cut and left her unable to make use of the lifts.

“I take my daughter to a summer school at the St Joachim primary school, a place I chose specifically because it was accessible for my daughter and has air-conditioning,” Muscat said.

“When I picked her up she was drenched in sweat. I was sick with worry as she suffers from seizures.

“I later found out that the LSAs had remained alone on the groundfloor to take care of her because the lifts were not working and she could not join in any other activity. I cannot imagine how the rest of the children coped, sitting in chairs with not so much as a fan to keep them cool.

“If they promised to install generators to keep the locality going, a school should be one of the first places to prioritise.

“Many parents leave their children here to go to work. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to arrange for childcare but the other option is to let your children languish in the heat.”

Dealing with COVID vaccine fever in a heateave

John Robinson, who lives in Triq L-Imriekeb, said it was upsetting with no power for 17 hours while caring for his son, who was ill with side effects after receiving a COVID vaccine.

“It’s horrible and upsetting. Anyone who is unwell would have suffered more in this heat. But those with a fever, I feel so sorry for them,” he said.

“I am healthy and I was suffering, so imagine if you have a temperature on top of that. Horrible situation. Calling Enemalta leaves you with no answers. It seems not one person actually cares.

“This isn’t a third world country. It’s supposed to be a growing high-tech country for i-gaming and cryptocurrencies but it can’t even supply the basics. If the country continues to allow new building works then it has to increase everything equally. Electricity, water, waste, food, doctors, hospitals. Everything should be increasing to accommodate these things but it’s not.”

He said 17 hours without power in 2021 was already bad, but during a heatwave it was “practically criminal”

“Someone must be held responsible for this.”

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