Excessive waiting to obtain an essential service or to purchase a commodity was usually attributed to ex-communist countries such as Russia and East Europeans.  Western societies used to deride such situations occurring in East European countries where local citizens formed long queues and waited for a considerable number of hours even to buy a loaf of bread.

In the Republic of Malta, thank God, Maltese do not have to queue to purchase the staple food of life, because our daily bread is sometimes also delivered to our door. However, like the ex-communist countries, we are still lagging far behind in terms of obtaining an essential health service or during judicial processes.

Consider the case of an ailing pensioner, or a sick workman/woman earning a minimum wage, or of a sick unemployed individual living on unemployment benefits, who on calling on their doctor/medical specialist are told that their ill health condition requires further medical investigation or a surgical intervention.  The medical practitioner, who may be serving from a government clinic, and/or working part-time in private clinic, then advises his patients that they have two options – either to wait several months or years to undergo the required medical treatment free of charge through the government health services, or they could have the same surgical intervention or medical testing within a few days through private medical facilities albeit at a hefty price. Weighing their options, the low income sick individual/s would feel constrained to chose the latter, because waiting too long for his/her medical treatment would mean the aggravation of her/his medical condition or even death. Choosing private medical facilities would however come at a high price and unless he/she is medically insured (which would be unlikely for such low income individuals), he/she would either have to obtain a loan from the bank, or to beg family and friends to contribute to the urgently required medical intervention. 

Another case for consideration is the dragging procedures of our judicial system – once a Maltese citizen finds himself embroiled in a court case, there is no knowing when he/she will be out of it. The judicial procedures are so slow, that even cases of the Small Case Tribunal, which should be a decided in the shortest time possible as per relative law, are taking more than three years to be settled in several cases. Consequently, claimants of some paltry sums or alleged debtors usually end up paying much more than the alleged sum claimed or sum owed. Some sessions of court proceedings barely last a few minutes, and during such times a ridiculously frivolous excuse is concocted for deferment to another date thereby prolonging such cases further than necessary.  Legal fees involved accumulate to the detriment of the claimant or the alleged debtor. The European Commission has also criticized excessive delays and irregular procedures of our judicial institutions, but it seems that reforms in this sector are also slow to implement.

While we pride ourselves of being a European country and a civilized nation, our institutions are letting us down.  They seem to enjoy playing the waiting game with the citizens of this small nation because the longer it takes to obtain a government provided health service paid for by the people’s taxes and by national insurance contributions, and delays in the judicial processes in our Law Courts, a greater benefit is obtained by the private health services and certain members of the legal profession respectively.  Unfortunately, it’s the general public, especially the low-income section, which has to suffer from this sort of waiting game.

Raymond Sammut

MELLIEHA