After yesterday’s public humiliation at the hands of the Prime Minister who ordered him to remove the tent structure that without any notice or consultation suddenly sprouted at Mater Dei Hospital, this paper still nurtures a sort of dogged-like admiration for Minister Godfrey Farrugia.

Criticise him as much as you want, or even laugh at him, but there is probably no other member of Cabinet which takes his role so conscientiously and scrupulously as the Minister of Health.

Earlier this week, after a full day of work, he went to a Cospicua school for a meeting with people to consult them on the Pharmacy of Your Choice. No one turned up, except for a team from this newspaper and a team from One News. Undaunted, the minister still sat down and gave an impromptu press conference to the two journalists.

Then we had this tent issue coming out of the blues yesterday …

Over the past days it has been health and the hospital that have dominated sections of the media.

One thing is crystal clear: the minister is trying hard, very hard, perhaps too hard to turn a dysfunctional hospital and health service into something that respects better the people it aims to serve.

Battered by consultants on one side and on the other, buffeted by immense pressures from the various sectors of people who work in the sector, from doctors and consultants to nurses and other employees, the minister is a lonely figure battling waves that are far too rough for him.

There have been other ministers before him who tried to do what Dr Farrugia is doing, such as his direct predecessor. That they all have so far failed to deliver the goods says more of the structural problems that over the years have brought the system almost to the point of collapse than of their lack of acumen and ability to tackle the issues.

So there is no doubting the minister’s eagerness to tackle the issues and provide some sort of solution. But the events of these days show that for all his efforts, matters are not really getting solved. And the repeated efforts have become the national laughing stock.

There is much to commend in the minister’s eagerness but perhaps less haste could bring better results.

Yesterday’s issue is a case in point: the nurses union and even the hospital operatives themselves, did not know about the tent initiative until the workers started to put it up. Would not better consultation helped in the planning?

And what is now the minister’s situation after this very public U-turn?

While we’re at it, the Opposition has often offered its help to tackle the many and intractable problems in the health system and has complained its offers have not been responded to. Would not consultation and an open-ended approach work better than all this chaos and confusion?