This sultry, torrid heat is leaving an effect. I must blame it for last Tuesday’s press conference in which Chris Fearne, parliamentary secretary for health, proudly announced the agreement entered by the Government and St James Hospital to cut down on surgery waiting lists.

The initiative itself is a good one. In fact it was one of the main initiatives which the former health minister, Joe Cassar, implemented successfully over the period 2010 - 2013.

Thanks to an agreement with several private hospitals (not just one), Maltese patients profited from an excellent service where thousands of cataract interventions and arthroscopies were done, always free of charge for the end user, the patient. This showed the way forward in the health sector.

Then came Muscat’s reign. The new government bosses did not think it would be wise to continue with such agreements. It did not matter that the whole initiative meant less suffering for patients, more theatre time at Mater Dei, an optimistic ray of hope for the private health sector. Or that it was even cost effective. No, the whole project was stopped abruptly and dumped in the wayside.

The proud chaps leading the government, with all their very clever ways, would not consider following in the steps of their predecessors.

It’s now almost three years later. And somebody has woken up from the slumber and decided that it would be a magnificent, innovative idea to have public private partnership (PPP) and seriously attack the waiting lists. 

No one following Fearne’s press conference on Tuesday would have guessed that the government is reinventing the wheel. Interestingly, it’s a decision that contrasts with the health policy when Godfrey Farrugia was health minister. No doubt, Konrad Mizzi and Fearne know this. Whether on purpose or not, the U-turn embarrasses the health minister who did not permit it, although it also casts a shadow on the entire government.

Another press conference, another dark shadow. At the unveiling of the mural in the Emergency area (which I am told was planned under the previous administration), once again it was Chris Fearne who announced the opening of the children’s emergency ward later this year. You’d think there were no child emergency services at Mater Dei until he took over the sector as junior minister.

That’s odd because as a parent (and I assure you there are many others like me), I have made very good use of the services offered at the Paediatric Emergency several times. The unveiling of the mural suggests that service will remain in the same place. So what’s new?

If you visit the paediatric area today, don’t be shocked. You will find at least twenty adult patients, men and women, trying to keep save the dignity which was stripped away from them when they were admitted into this corridor through which very anxious parents have to pass, carrying their children to be treated urgently by the very caring medical staff, who are purposely trained to deal with children in these circumstances.

It gets worse. The men and women in this corridor exhibit a variety of symptoms. For example, mixed conditions including chest pains, chest infections, short breath and gastric infections. Truly, a cocktail of conditions, which should not be mixed together, under any circumstance, particularly close to a children’s emergency service.

In the meantime, thanks to the media, we get to know that not all is dandy at Mater Dei.  “During the last few days Mater Dei Hospital was and still is under so much pressure that the hospital was forced to open extra ‘contingency’ or ‘escalation’wards”, according to the nurses’ union, MUMN.

Is this Muscat’s roadmap for health? Was this the excellent plan he was so eager to implement? Of course there is the promise that medicines will be delivered to patients’ homes. From what I heard, the pharmacists are not too eager about this one. I wonder what they know.