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[WATCH] Comino resident’s pension taken up by Gozo trips for dialysis
Labour leader’s trip to island of Blue Lagoon: meets Vella family, the last people living on Comino.
13 January 2013, 12:00am
Miriam Dalli
Miriam Dalli
1 min read
Joseph and Michelle Muscat visited the Vella family of Comino, before Labour's mass meeting in Gozo.
It's possibly been years since the Vella family of Comino - Anglu and his brother Salvu Vella, their sister Maria, 83, and Evangelista Buttigieg - sat down with a member of the House of Representatives.
Joseph Muscat is milking his 'Malta for all' campaign slogan with a whirlwind tour of the Maltese islands, but his visit to Comino - as he admits in this video - has brought to light the difficult circumstances of this particular group of elderly siblings.
As Muscat invited him to air his grievances to the media gathered in their tiny home, Salvu Vella spoke of the difficulties faced by his brother Anglu who must go for dialysis treatment in Gozo three times a week.
According to Vella, they pay €150 a week to go to the Gozo hospital - a fair chunk of what is today's pension.
"The Gozo ministry provides a jetty for the priest to celebrate mass every weekend. Now we need an on-call ferry to take Anglu to Gozo. The government has told us they will arrange something, but nothing concrete has taken place so far.
"The ferry service that was subsidized by the government stopped seven years ago," Vella told Muscat.
Miriam Dalli joined MaltaToday.com.mt in 2010 becoming assistant editor f...
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I remember the Vella Family very well because I used to visit them with my father when we went fishing just about once every two weeks. This was a long time ago and I always thought the Vella family lived in what I use to call il-Genna ta l-Art. The island of Comino (Kemmuna) was almost isolated in those days and very few tourists visited until the Hotel was build. And of course then came the Pig Farm. That turned out to be the Arriva Fiasco of those times. There was the Vella family and an Italian man named Salvatore who worked the land for a living. I thought that this island was part of paradise. it was so peaceful and so serene I used to love walking from the shore to the residents, who were always happy to see my dad as in those days he provided them with most everything they needed. It is such a shame that the Government abandoned this family and contrary to what everybody thinks healthcare comes very expensive to the Vella family.I would like to ask id-Dar tal-Providenza or any other charitable institution to try and help the Vella family in their Healthcare needs. Every Summer they have to put up with some of the smut that visit this little island and show no regard for these residents. i ask that Dr Muscat finds a way to help even if he does not get elected PM. Somebody has to care.
