Busuttil: 'Patients' dignity comes first for PN'

The people are expecting the creation of jobs and not the creation of unemployment, PN leader Simon Busuttil said today as he addressed a party even in Birkirkara.

Noting an increase in unemployment, the country’s deficit and a decrease in retail sales, Busuttil said that government “cannot conceal the problems for long” and the opposition would carry out its duties and expose the government’s shortcomings.  

Turning to the Delimara power plant contract, Busuttil said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s “artificial way of doing things” was exposed by Muscat’s “uneasiness” on the matter.

Referring to Monday’s debate between himself and Muscat on Reporter, Busuttil said “the prime minister first said that the €400 million contract had not been signed and a few seconds later he retracted and said that the contract was signed but not published. So why didn’t he hold a press conference  as he did when he announced a 2c reduction on petrol?” Busuttil said to great applause.

Busuttil also took time to thank one of Birkirkara’s favourite sons, Eddie Fenech Adami whose “infinite courage, political vision, ambition and determination” made Malta an EU member and made the forthcoming European elections possible.

Echoing the former PN leader mantra “righteousness will surely win,” Busuttil said this approach will guide the PN for years to come in its efforts to be an effective opposition and an alternative government.

Busuttil slammed the internal investigation carried out by government on the allegations of the discriminatory distribution of medicines “as nothing but a scam.”

He added that the PN would stop at nothing in uncovering the “shameful” discrimination which he said was “taking away patients’ dignity.”

“This is why we proposed to extend the right of patients to receive treatment in private hospitals if this cannot be provided at Mater Dei. We want to uphold patients’ dignity. Our position on health is very clear. The people and not party insiders come first,” he said. “

Speaking on the motion which the PN presented earlier today, opposition MP Claudio Grech said that the opposition’s proposal would allow citizens to benefit fully from the EU cross border healthcare directive and ensure that patients may also seek state-paid treatment in local private hospitals instead of going abroad

He said that the law introduced in October 2013 by the Labour government was “illogical” because it explicitly excluded the possibility of receiving treatment in private hospitals in Malta.

The EU directive gives European citizens the right to seek treatment in any EU member state, with their respective government refunding the treatment.

“The proposal has three main benefits, firstly patients will not need to go abroad, government will not incur any extra costs and patients will enjoy the best treatment possible in a timely manner,” Grech said.

ENT specialist and former pro-EU campaigner Alec Lapira noted that the waiting list at Mater Dei hospital was affecting all medical sectors and the motion presented by the opposition would go a long way in reducing the waiting time.

In addition, Lapira said that if patients were allowed to be treated in private hospitals it would provide a “stimulus” to the private sector.

Chris Delicata from the Malta Diabetes Association was also present and in his address he called on the political class to improve the treatment offered to diabetes sufferers and invest more in research, screening programmes and preventive measures.