Reference is made to the recent attacks on me personally and the health services made this time by Labour Deputy Leader Charles Mangion and Helena Dalli.

The craving for power currently gripping the Malta Labour Party and clearly betrayed by its spokespersons in their speeches and statements, knows no limits. Trying to win political brownies on every issue has become their obsession. Little does it matter whether an issue is of a very sensitive nature or not. This is nowhere more vividly manifested than in the health sector. A sector where by default, political concurrence should be the rule on the biggest possible number of areas for the benefit of all.

However, what the general public is witnessing at the moment on a daily basis is diametrically the opposite. The increasing panic that had gripped the Opposition for some months before the opening of Mater Dei Hospital is now more conspicuous on the eve of the first admission of patients and is causing havoc among Labour exponents. It is heavily denting their political sensitivity, thrusting aside peoples’ apprehensions and confidence in health services by their alarmist statements. Their criticism cum frontal attack on the public health sector has now reached unprecedented levels where the main Opposition spokesman on health even dared to heap criticism on an eminent cardiologist on clinical matters in which he is not competent. Levelling their guns on our health professionals who for years have rendered sterling service to one and all is the ultimate insult.

The recent crusade on the breast-screening programme led by Helena Dalli in her self-assumed role of a modern day Joan of Arc is ample proof that in the race for political gain, tutto fa brodo. Little does it matter to the Honourable Member that we already carry out the odd 4,000 yearly mammograms by a multidisciplinary team in a dedicated breast care unit, or a same day fast track referral system for symptomatic women. Her concern or should I say panic was the promise by the Prime Minister to launch the breast screening programme in the coming year.

Her unfounded allegation that I was thunderstruck by this pledge made by the Prime Minister during his budget speech is to say the least preposterous. Such antics are the trademark of the Leader of the Opposition who regularly pulls out of his sleeve unexpected and unconvincing propositions surprising even his own party. The fact that she was thrown off track in her analysis of my statements during the television programme is her problem. As regards the statement I made at a public speech, may I bring to your readers’ attention that she conveniently eliminated the previous sentence leading to what she quoted me as saying. In a nutshell, the true context of what I said was that although we still lack vital human resources that would enable us to embark on a national breast screening programme (as these, especially radiologists, do not grow on trees), the introduction of state-of-the-art digital technology at Mater Dei will enable us to refer mammograms taken locally for assessment to specialists overseas.

This new opportunity leads us to the next logical step - the gradual rolling out of a breast-screening programme.

Lately, I have noticed that even the deputy leader, Dr Mangion, has joined the fray in this ongoing attack on the public health sector with such vigour that it should worry my colleague the Hon. Michael Farrugia. In one of his latest articles “Do not mess about with our health” he pontificates about the presumed level of cynicism this government has reached that it is even prepared to mess about with people’s health. Such a statement baffles me to the extent that I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry? Accusing this government of messing about with our health takes some cheek; particularly at this point when people are upbeat due to positive events happening in the health sector. Let me mention the last few milestone achievements of an interminable list. The state-of-the-art Mater Dei Hospital, the imminent rolling out of the Pharmacy of your Choice Scheme and the recent landmark agreements signed with all health professionals. Is this the mess Hon. Mangion was referring to? Using his standards, what would one call the locking out of Maltese doctors in the St Luke’s catastrophe? Using such empty statements will not alienate the people who use the health services daily and know what they are getting. Nor will it impress our professionals who carry out their duties diligently to the benefit of their patients.

I am convinced that people will surely take into consideration our track record in the health sector when weighing the Opposition’s accusation of this government’s political immorality by promising what it knows it cannot deliver. We promised a breast screening programme and that is what we will give. Our past is the guarantee of the future.

Louis Deguara

Minister for Health, the Elderly and Community Care