A woman who suffered permanent injuries at the health centre she worked in has filed a judicial protest against the Chief Government Medical Officer and the Social Security Department over the health authorities’ failure to provide her the necessary medication free of charge.

In her judicial protest, Alexia Muscat is also seeking an apology from a Social Security Department official who, she maintained, launched a tirade of insults when she brought the matter up.

In 2003, Alexia Muscat had suffered injuries which were deemed to constitute a 10% permanent disability, and a court had found her employer responsible in a 2012 ruling. But the Chief Government Medical Officer contested the need to compensate her for the medication she required, as it would be provided free of charge by the government.

However, Ms Muscat was recently informed that she would have to pay for the medication she required, and has been doing so at great cost for the past few weeks.

Consequently, Ms Muscat and her mother went to the Social Security Department and the Health Department to deliver a letter asking them to review her case, in light of the fact that her need for the medication was the consequence of the accident that her employer was responsible.

While she was courteously received by the Health Department, the Social Security Department was another matter entirely: the protest claimed that an official, Anthony Cesare, shouted at them and said that he did not care about the legal letter and that he was the one who set the law.

Her lawyer, Joe Brincat, brought up the case in a radio programme as an example of arrogant behaviour within the public services, and subsequently went to the Social Solidarity Ministry where he was assured that an apology from Mr Cesare would be forthcoming. But no apology has yet arrived.

Ms Muscat is thus insisting that her medication should be provided free of charge – by right, and not as a concession – and that the Social Security Department takes the necessary steps to ensure that as a citizen, Ms Muscat is treated with the dignity she deserves.