10 years ago - The Times

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Hospital staff given allowance to buy own food

The health authorities have suspended the staff food service at Mater Dei Hospital after a nurse found the severed head of a mouse in her food but the government would not say whether the contractor would still be paid for the service.

“The management is acting according to the provisions of the contract,” is all a spokesman for the Social Policy Ministry would say on this point.

The ministry said last night it has instructed the hospital authorities to suspend the canteen service and give staff an allowance to buy their food from elsewhere, instead.

An investigation has been launched into the incident, shortly after news broke out about the unsavoury addition to the nurse’s menu on Tuesday. The nurse found the remains while eating in the staff canteen on Monday.

The president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, Paul Pace told The Times the union was “expecting action to be taken against the contractor and wants to know what safeguards will be taken in the future”.

The Health Division said the hospital management took immediate action to launch investigations, with public health inspectors going on site to verify facts and drawing up the first reports.

25 years ago - The Times

Saturday, September 4, 1993

Internal investigation under way

Malta Drydocks may call in the police to investigate irregularities in its local purchases section.

’Yard council chairman Sammy Meilaq said yesterday that an internal investigation was already under way by the ’yard’s internal auditors.

Asked how much money was involved, Mr Meilaq’s reply was that “it does not run into hundreds of thousands of liri”. The auditors, Grant Thornton Malta, have been instructed by the ’yard to investigate all cases, even one involving a price discrepancy of just Lm2.

Addressing a press conference at Malta Drydocks, Mr Meilaq said the alleged abuses concerned purchases of spare parts at prices that were higher than normal.

When in March the auditors were given Lm100 to purchase spare parts themselves it had resulted the prices they paid were much lower than those normally paid by the purchasing department.

Mr Meilaq, who authorised the investigation, said he had also been tipped by an “individual” who told him to contact two of the ’yard’s suppliers on the alleged irregularities.

Half a century ago - Times of Malta

Wednesday, September 4, 1968

Former chart-topper honeymooning in Malta

Honeymooning in Malta before cutting her second record for CBS in London is Carole Deene, whose near-fatal accident on the Cardiff-Newport road three years ago, almost wrote finish to her very successful career.

Miss Deene married singer Tony Lindell (real name Barry Turner) last month. Having spent three-and-a-half years in Malta when a ten-year-old (his father was in the RAF) Mr Turner thought Malta was a wonderful place for a honeymoon.

Yorkshire-born Miss Deene left school at 16 and started singing lessons in London. She had an audition with the BBC and as a result was awarded an unexpected prize – having her own television show for children titled Show Train in 1961.

“Things snowballed from then on,” Miss Deene said in an interview yesterday. “I was awarded a recording contract with EMI and started recording songs,” she added.

Miss Deene is perhaps better known for her song titles, almost all dedicated to boys’ names like Norman and James which together with another record Sad Movies topped the charts in the early 1960s.

But her most successful record was Some People.

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