Blind guides

Let me assure John Azzopardi (June 17) that I was already well aware of the words of Hilary of Poitiers and of others who employ the same circular argument which uses the Bible to confirm the authority of the Church and the Church to confirm the authority of the Bible.

But surely even he can see that anyone who has problems with inconsistencies in the Bible is hardly likely to be persuaded by proof texts taken from a fourth-century bishop.

No wonder congregations continue to decline when some apologists for Christianity can’t even see there is a problem.

Alan Cooke – Sliema

Gozo healthcare

Gozo General Hospital. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Gozo’s health sector has been severely neglected these last eight years. The government has outrightly ignored the pleas of its residents concerning the selling of its only hospital on the island. While many promises had been made by Vitals and now Steward Health Care, the only visible improvement has been cosmetic, when Gozo General Hospital’s (GGH) reception was given a facelift with the acquisition of new chairs and a reception desk.

Furthermore, conditions of the contract, wherein a new hospital wing was supposed to have been built and renovations to the existing structure were supposed to have been completed by May and September 2018 respectively, have been ignored. If Steward is not honouring its end of the deal, then the contract should be nullified.

In the meantime, services have continued to dwindle or deteriorate in spite of the many dedicated staff who do their best to meet the demands of their patients.

As an example, I will mention the helicopter service that used to handle emergency cases that required urgent transferring to Mater Dei Hospital (MDH). In the past, this would take a matter of 10 to 15 minutes as the helicopter would land at GGH, pick up the patient and land right at MDH. Now, the patient must be transported to Xewkija from GGH by ambulance, transferred onto then helicopter that then lands at Luqa, await another ambulance and be driven to MDH. The time has, at the least, quadrupled! The cost: patients’ lives.

It was only under the Nationalist government that Gozitans’ health was given priority. Between 2006 and 2011, over €5 million were invested in new equipment for GGH, resulting in new operating theatres, a modernised radiology department and a hyperbaric unit. What has this government done? As Janet Jackson sings, “What have you done for me lately?”, not much, unfortunately.

Gozo needs the PN back to strengthen and protect our health sector.

Among the initiatives the PN is proposing if elected there are: a new, modern, 400-bed hospital; the provision of additional chemotherapy treatments so that patients do not need to travel to Malta to get treatment; an MRI in Gozo and return helicopter service as it was once and should be, landing at MDH and GGH hospitals.

Additionally, the PN will address the issues concerning elderly care, including dementia patients, mental health patients and persons with disabilities.

Pat Attard – Nadur

Historical consultations

I refer to the interesting letter by John Consiglio on collective memory (June 16).

With all due respect, in preparing the film Blood on the Crown, should no Maltese historian/author have been consulted? When I wrote Ir-Rivoluzzjoni Maltija tal-1919 (Aquilina, 1970) some of the survivors were still around.

The anthology I edited in 2019, The Sette Giugno in Maltese History (Midsea, 2019), is an anniversary tribute.

Henry Frendo – Attard

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