I had planned to write about something else on this first Sunday of 2011, but the circumstances of the past few days have made me change my mind.

For the last three weeks, I have been going to Mater Dei Hospital two or three times a day to visit a close relative. For someone like me who does not like Christmas, it was the cherry on the cake.

You might be asking what angioplasties and the postman have in common, but there is a link and if you continue reading, you’ll soon find out what it is.

Let me start with angioplasties.

On 11 December, my relative entered hospital for a check-up on an unrelated condition, but a routine electrocardiogram (ECG) showed an anomaly that needed to be treated.

An angiogram – an X-ray that uses a special dye and camera to take pictures of the blood flow – led to an angioplasty, which is a non-surgical procedure that can be used to open blocked heart arteries. This also necessitated the placing of a stent, a small metal mesh tube that acts as a scaffold to provide support in a coronary artery.

Angioplasties have become a common method of treating heart conditions at Mater Dei Hospital, and patients can afterwards lead a normal life. Advancements in medicine have reduced complications during angioplasties to a minimum.

This particular angioplasty, the one my relative underwent, was carried out on 21 December. Several other similar procedures were held that day – it was one patient after another in the operating theatre and I was told that it is normal for successive angioplasties, and the placing of stents, to take place every day.

So you will understand the rage I felt three days later, on Christmas Eve, when l-orizzont’s front-page headline wrongly screamed that stents have been unavailable at Mater Dei Hospital for eight months.

In journalism, I have always learnt to differentiate between fact and opinion. Comment is free, but facts are sacred. Everyone is entitled to form an opinion and state it, but when it comes to facts, it is a completely different matter.

This is especially so on delicate issues, such as those concerning health. Reading that story on Christmas Eve made my blood boil. It was despicable to come up with something like that. The people who read it without being in the situation I was in – that is knowing that it was misinformation at its best because stents were available and were being used – probably believed it.

But this story was a clear example of irresponsible journalism, an article that created unnecessary alarm and, worse, the people affected were at a most vulnerable moment. Imagine what those patients who were waiting for their turn for an angioplasty that morning felt when they read that article.

That such a report was published on Christmas Eve was even more appalling, both because of the moment in time, and also because no newspapers are published the following day, meaning that any rectifications took time.

A statement was issued by the Health Ministry to deny the l-orizzont report and say that there are enough stents – some 300 types – to meet requirements until the end of February. It was also said that the number of angioplasties during 2010 increased by six per cent and the use of stents had risen by seven per cent. But this statement was “lost” and did not have the same impact as that alarmist story in l-orizzont.

Most notably, the newspaper did not have the decency to print the ministry’s reply when it was published again on 27 December, although it had the temerity to comment on its news item in its editorial. And so the people who read only this newspaper are still under the impression that no stents are available.

This kind of journalism is disgraceful. It’s one thing to twist and spin a story on the power station contract, and quite another to play with people’s lives.

* * *

Which leads me to the postman.

For many of you, the name of George Cordina will not ring a bell. But to us Giljanizi, George will be remembered as ‘il-postman’. Each time I hear the word, I picture his image in my mind – and now more than ever.

I met George for the last time in the main corridor of Mater Dei Hospital in the week leading up to Christmas. I knew he was ill, but I only realised the extent of his illness when our eyes met.

He was being taken home to spend Christmas with his family. In a wheelchair in that hospital corridor, his joie de vivre was still evident. He said he was looking forward to coming back to Mater Dei in the New Year to undergo the therapy he needed.

The conversation soon turned to our shared passion – Milan. He punched the air with his fist in his own typical way, saying to me: “What a great team we have”. He kissed my hand and I wished him well. “Get ready to come to Wembley with me,” I said to him as we parted, aiming to give him some additional courage to fight his illness.

We had travelled abroad to watch Milan play on a number of occasions and I remember the time when George and I, with a group of other supporters, had gone to Catania in 1984 to watch our favourite team play. The only tickets we could find were in the section reserved for the most ardent Catania supporters.

Some of our party were so afraid that we would be recognised as Milan supporters that they bought scarves with the Catania colours, but our camouflage was soon spotted when, five minutes into the game, Milan scored. And, true to his genuineness and enjoyment of sport for what it should be, George was the only one among us who stood up, arms outstretched, shouting “gooooaaaal”. Those next to him pulled him back quickly, fearing the worst but, thankfully, we survived.

Sadly, George will not be able to celebrate another goal. He passed away last Sunday. The fact that last Sunday was also my birthday will create an even bigger bond between us now, because every year that goes by, I will surely remember his passing.

And, since life is so full of ironies, his death came in the week of the 33rd anniversary of Karin Grech’s murder. George was the postman who delivered the package, an act that tormented him for the rest of his life, even though he had no part in the crime.

George has left us with Milan at the top of the table and he was extremely happy about it when we met a few days before his death.

Up there, I am sure he will try to influence the Good Lord to see Milan win more and more trophies. But down here, without George, no Milan victory will be quite the same again.

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