Enemalta employees are not to blame for the series of power cuts that caused chaos throughout the country during the heat wave.

The blame for the failings of Malta’s distribution network does not lie with the workers on the ground, but rather with the failure of Enemalta and Government leadership to prepare for such a situation.

Showing just how serious the heat wave was, 11 people have died thus far from heat-related issues.

Many others suffered over those 40 degree days and nights, and having to face that with unreliable energy provision was terrible. It was unacceptable that the energy distribution system was not prepared for such an eventuality. There must be accountability for the failings of the system. One must ask, would any of those deaths have been prevented had there not been any energy issues?

The Government has said that it had a plan to invest in the system and was already working on it before the heat wave struck, but clearly things were left too late. Let’s be honest, climate activists have been warning about the situation for years. It was a deadly heat wave and the country was caught completely unprepared. That is the Government’s fault.

Working such manual labour during a sweltering heat wave where temperatures rose to above 40 degrees is not easy, and while many people were rightly angry, distressed and annoyed by the lack of electricity, it surely was not the fault of the Enemalta workers on the ground.

So then, when news emerged around a week ago that Enemalta workers were pelted with eggs and water as they attempted to repair the damaged electrical system was worrying. These people were literally in the trenches doing what they can to fix the situation. It must also not have been easy working in such hot temperatures, only to go home and also face a potential power cut. Acting in such a way with the workers themselves was wrong. Seeing other posts where people argued that passers-by should instead bring them some water to help cool them down during their work does raise hope and would have been the right thing to do.

We will likely experience such high temperatures in the future, and we need to be prepared. Prime Minister, Robert Abela, said that the Government will accelerate its plan regarding investment in the distribution network. This needs to be a priority and it must be ensured that we do not experience a distribution system failure again should another such heat wave come about. To be quite honest, efforts to speed up investment should start from now, not in 2024.

One must also bring up the clear understaffing and space issues when it comes to the medical field. A number of elective surgical interventions had been postponed due to the hospital experiencing a much higher than normal influx of people seeking emergency services as a result of the heat. The medical staff should not be blamed.

In addition, medical staff has been asked to work extra shifts at Mater Dei emergency department. Many of the patients suffering from hyperthermia – abnormally high body temperature – are elderly residents, some of whom said that they had also experienced power cuts in the past days, preventing them from using fans and air-conditioners.

Clearly more medical staff is needed and, this is not a new issue. The Government needs to pull its socks up.