Why has this country not got to grips with the fact that, as a European Union member state, we cannot go on tolerating goings-on that not only humiliate our own culture in the eyes of the civilised world, but also denigrate those who really try to live up to their European identity?

I am referring to the widespread racket still being played out by Maltese undertakers who offer commission for any information provided to them about people who are on the brink of dying, just so they appear first on the scene with their coffins and a whole list of other funeral accessories. A funeral these days costs a minimum of €1,000, and there are undertakers who get as many as four, five or even six funerals a week!

Of course, not all undertakers are vultures, but those who are, and they are well known, have built a strong database of contacts from all walks of life, who are ‘on the take’.

These people mostly work with the government, and range from nursing officers in old people’s homes, to police sergeants in local police stations and helpers and security personnel in hospitals. These people should know they have blood on their hands every time they receive money for information they pass on to an undertaker in anticipation of the death of a patient.

There have been instances when an undertaker has solicited the relatives of a dying person even after that person has recovered. Relatives report these goings-on to the highest authorities in hospitals and old people’s homes but it seems that even though they are promised an investigation into their allegations by the directors of these institutions themselves, these undertakers continue to infiltrate the system and corrupt health workers with offerings of commissions. Xarabank once produced a programme specifically on this subject, but it has clearly not succeeded in purging the problem. It did, however, manage to reveal just how widespread it is.

Of course, everyone knows this is not enough, and one shudders to think that bedside attendants are roaming the corridors of these institutions, not to breathe life into the sick and dying patients, but rather to hope for their demise – all for a measly €30 per head.

A law should be passed in Parliament that will severely punish anyone who aids and abets ‘Dracula’. Our present government has had many complaints laid at its door, not necessarily on this matter, and it has adopted a Buddha-like stance – in other words doing nothing at all, totally without reaction.

But this is one problem about which it has to do something, because it is among the lowest of the lows, and because by not reacting to it and trying to find an effective solution, it may well be signifying alliance to it.

One hopes this is not the case.

Cecil Jones

BIRKIRKARA