On Saturday, 30 June and Sunday, 1 July I had the privilege of showing people around Mater Dei, actually a tour of the diabetes clinic.

I say privilege because, in spite of insults hurled my way due to my Labour principles, in spite of nasty comments that I should not be allowed to work there, on the whole the public was gentle, attentive and really interested in what might some day be a place for their comfort because of some ailment or other.

If I degrade Mater Dei for its beauty, its expensive equipment and its massive rooms for consultants, patients and reception areas, I would be doing it out of spite, and spiteful I am not.

What I am suggesting, though, is that the system which was used at St Luke’s Hospital should not be repeated at Mater Dei.

Bricks and mortar do not make a hospital – it is the administration that does, and at this moment in time, the way St Luke’s Hospital is run is irritating, tedious and very painful to patients. It’s no use giving patients a time for their appointment at 7.30 or 8.30am if the consultant majestically makes his or her appearance at around 9am or even 9.30am.

It is painful letting people wait for years for an operation because they cannot afford to have surgery privately. It is not being helpful to patients when their follow-up appointment is not for six to eight months.

Worse, in the diabetes clinic, patients with a new case appointment have to wait a full year before they are sitting in front of their consultant who confirms if the patient has diabetes or not.

Will there be enough doctors and consultants at Mater Dei to be able to attend to patients at the promised time? Will the operation list be shortened, saving the patient from going through unbearable suffering? Will all pills be available at the outpatient’s pharmacy?

Will the wait for an appointment take an eternity, to the extent that, most of the time, the patient has to see the doctor privately, whether he can afford to or not? My last question is: Will Mater Dei take in patients for free or, in order to keep the hospital running, will rich and poor alike have to dig into their pockets?

I rest my Mater Dei case.

Valerie Borg

Valletta