As expected, the Labour Party was quick to pick on a report published by a Swedish think-tank that threw the local healthcare system in bad light. The Opposition has for quite a while been attacking the services offered, particularly those at Mater Dei Hospital. In the majority of cases, the PL was completely wrong. Remember the silly issue about pillows not being available when there was a store full of them?

And it is equally wrong today when the PL focuses on a report that used the wrong information in its compilation. But anything that puts the government in a corner is an opportunity for the Opposition. It knows that the people who hear only its side of the story – those who watch One TV and read l-orizzont only – will get a very bad picture.

The thing is that Malta is renowned for its excellent healthcare system, and no report coming from questionable sources who base their findings on the wrong methodology will suffice to belittle all the hard work that has been put in to have the kind of high-level services we have today.

Almost no day passes without the Health Ministry announcing some new initiative or some new service that is available for the Maltese in healthcare. And this seems to hurt the Opposition so much that it is always nit-picking – and this often leads it to arrive at the wrong conclusions.

What is even sadder is that, in its attacks, the Opposition is hitting out mostly not at the minister or the administration, but at the hundreds of healthcare staff that offer their services with dedication and commitment. The PL is not realising that, in its haste to have a go at the Nationalists, it is attacking the doctors, nurses and other paramedical personnel.

The healthcare system in Malta is not perfect, as the hard-working Minister Joe Cassar has often said. But it must be admitted that matters have greatly improved over the past years.

Nobody speaks of waiting lists anymore now, for example, as the government has found ways and means how to tackle this situation.

Nobody speaks of patients waiting in the corridor for a bed, which confirms what the government was saying at a time when the hospital was overwhelmed simply because we had a harsh winter and more people needed hospital treatment than normal.

Malta should be proud of its health services which, it must be pointed out, continue to be given free of charge. It is a real pity that the Opposition, rather than working hand in hand with the government on what should be a non-politically controversial issue, often tends to see things that are not there.