The saying goes that one day in politics is a very long time indeed. I must admit that the last fortnight has been particularly unpleasant. I am fully accepting of the fact that the complaints and requests for my head, are necessary unpleasantries designed to keep me on my toes, come what may. I certainly expect no one else to be sympathetic because it is part of the job. "You wanted the bike, now go cycle", that sort of thing.

Admittedly, the last fortnight has been particularly eventful. I was mortified to be told by a friend of mine that her ex-husband lost his life while at the Emergency Department in Mater Dei Hospital. It would have been unnatural for me not to have formed a personal opinion already. Soon thereafter, I was shocked to the core to learn from the communications team about the crushing allegations that were sprouting wherever you cared to look or listen. Indeed, late at night I decided to move in parallel with the magisterial inquiry and appoint a separate and independent inquiry. Do you blame me? In the face of such allegations, the media was merciless as expected. Who would blame them? The indignation of the two prominent shadow ministers holding a press event was eloquent, frenzied...complete disaster everywhere. A national alarm was stirred up. Our health services were again under attack. 
And then they started to trickle in. A relentless flow of emergency doctors and nurses calling me about the abuse they were enduring by patients and relatives. "Lili wkoll ha toqtluni?" ("Will you let me die too?") "Misskom tisthu!" ("Shame on you!) "Halluni nifga u morru brejk, tridx?!" ("Let me choke and have your break, will you?!) "Inhallsek biex toqtolni, eh!" ("I pay you to kill me!) 
A few torrid days down the line and the truth was finally out. One particular facebook profile, the rapidy defunct "Manuel Debono" started off this snowball. Who is he? Where is he? What is he thinking now? What did he have to gain from the rage and sorrow that he sowed? Excuse my French but this was one lying, despicable and sorry excuse for a Facebook user. But alas, we will not be taken for a ride a second time. This was no lone ranger, this was not some disaffected cell gone rogue. This turned out to be a heartless and concerted attack on our health services. I would have much preferred the plotters to come and demonstrate in Merchant Street baying for blood, rather than cruelly putting the Emergency Department, the pillar of our health services, under siege. Where is that paladin of virtue, that expert in the art and science of attention-seeking, the one and only "manslaughter" expert, Dr Jason Azzopardi? And pray, what of the Honourable Adrian Delia and the Honourable Ian Vassallo? The Hon Vassallo was heard shrieking that Mater Dei, everywhere in Mater Dei, is a complete disaster. Would the Honourable gentleman care to come with us and visit our colleagues at SAMOC, or the radiology department with our scanners buzzing non-stop, our pathology department, our ITU, out-patients, perhaps our delivery wards, our cardiology suites and theatres...come and see stoma bags and nappies being changed, catheter bags drained, chemotherapy going in, radiation being administered, arteries being stented, 

bypasses performed, stones being removed, joints being replaced, fractures being mended, sight and hearing being corrected, tumours being cut out, lives being saved and health being restored. Would he care to come and meet his colleagues at the Emergency Department and explain what he means by the word "disaster"? I can only understand that he might be unwilling to waste his precious time and having to postpone his own patient clinics. We wouldn't want Mater Dei to become a worse disaster now, would we? 

Care to learn more about fake news? Check out The Times fact-check about the Honourable Bernard Grech's ludicrous claims about power cuts and mortality in persons living with sleep apnoea. Whoever is advising the Opposition Leader knew full well that what he was saying was baloney. But that matters not, regardless of the consequences of the Leader sounding silly, these people do not care about the patients' condition, they do not care a whit about scaring the daylights out of unsuspecting patients. Chaos, paralysis, rage, no matter...just as long as it earns them points. 

These leaders of men decided to take advantage of the death of a patient to further their political agendas. Would you not agree that such behaviour is unbecoming and downright despicable? If you ever thought that these leaders of men were cautious and staunch and level-headed, think again. If you thought that these gentlemen had the solutions to all of the ills of our society, you thought wrong. If you ever thought that these gentlemen hold the key to a better future for our national health service, excuse me but I would rather not comment at all.

Jo Etienne Abela is the Minister for Health