GWU calls for government statement on health service charges

GWU - Back to its old tactics again - It took ten months to study the impact of Alfred Sant's budget and approximately forty eight hours to react to a document - incidentally a report which was not and is not going to be implemented, at least as far as the payment recommendation goes - which it did not even read. Did I hear someone calling GWU a 'union'? I feel that it is anything but a union. It is only the bed partner of, yes, you've guessed, the PL.

J Martinelli
I think that it is you that should hallina Martinelli. There was no need for strikes because all workers got an wage increase for the cost of living every year and also an increase in the bonus which the PN said was going to bankrupt the employers. Living in far away Canada and relying on teh PN propaganda machine for your information makes you unable to comment fairly and correctly Martinelli. Democracy now? You must be joking.

The penultimate paragraph should read, "Now that the GWU is enjoying true democracy, quite unknown in the 7y0s and 80s, it is open season on the government since it happens that it is NOT the GWU's preferred one.

@ Galea L

One would not need to be present at Mintoff's Cabinet meetings attended by a GWU representative as an 'observer'.

It is the results that count. Do you admit that the GWU never called for one strike while the Socialists were in power? You mean to tell me that the Socialists were just with the teachers, the doctors, the dock workers and just about every other worker at the time? So, I ask again, where was the GWU if not held back by the Mintoffian leash?

Now that the GWU is enjoying true democracy, quite unknown in the 7y0s and 80s, it is open season on the government since it happens that it is the GWU's preferred one.

Hallina Galea!

If there is somebody who is not informed yet, it is you Mr Micallef.

You do not even know what the MUMN criticised the Government for in this issue and still you persist with your-know-it-all depressing replies. In fact you are also misinformed that the Government intends to hold further talks with MAM, even though they still don't know the subject of these meetings.

You really don't need to talk about party blinkers, let alone your famous ways how you do your best to please the NP...even if at the expense of sacrificing basic knowledge and common sense.

@ R Spagnol- It seems you are very misinformed my friend for MAM no longer has any issues with the government; the whole issue got resolved and discussions are due to continue. As for MUMN it has had issue with the government and they have been solved in the past and will continue to be so, just as things run normally in any other democracy.

As for my party blinkers, well what can I say, people living in glass houses should not throw stones!

Mr Micallef,

Not an issue? Just listen to the comments of both the nurses' and the doctors' union and you would realize what it means to value credibility and trustworthiness.

But first you have to move the party blinkers from your eyes.

As I said further up " this a case of an estranged wife (GWU) helping her ex husband (MLP). Or they were not 'in fact divorced'???

Some people are more believable than others.

@ R Spagnol- It is because I value credibility and trustworthiness that I cannot thrust a party that raises an issue which it knows is not an issue!

J Martinelli
How could you possibly know what was said at Cabinet meetings especially since you have been living cosily in far away Canada? Not relying as always on the PN's propaganda machine are you? All you and pn apologists mention is chocolate. What is more important, to live a decent life or being spoiled for choice which you cannot afford? As for free health care and doctors not understanding you that is a blatant lie because there were interpreters, I used the service so I know and apart from that maybe you have forgotten that many Maltese speak more than one language. All you pn apologists do when you have no argument is to resort to blatant lies.

A Camilleri erga' aqrah u ifhmu sewwa camilleri u ftakar x'qalu MP's Nazzjonalisti. Insejt min qal li din trid tinqata li kollox b'xejn ghax nesa li qatt ma konna intaxxati daqs taht il-PN u anki gholla l-VAT b'20% biex taghmel tajjeb (suppost) ghall-isptar Mater Dejn u s-servizzi tas-sahha? Dwar il-50c tar-ricetti qajjimtu l-irwiefen kollha. Issa tridu tiddefendu l-hlas ghas-servizz tas-sahha? Kif jghidu, kieku l-gemel jara hotobtu jaqa' u jmut zoptu.

Dear Anthony camilleri

I hate to have to tell it to you my dear friend I've been woken up, alive and kicking since much before the last election and like many others I heard every word that P.M. Gonzi ,for whom I had quite a-lot of trust before, had to say. For example he promised to reduce tax from 35% to 25% in the FIRST budget but nothing of the sort happened, he promised subsidies on the surcharge but surprise, surprise this was all gone after the election, he promised to elect heads of Depts. through a 'tendering-like' process but nothing done here too, he promised mothers a tax break of a whole year which was reduced to not more than 2,000 Eur, he promised 'togetherness' and after the election on one issue after the other he takes decisions on his own, he promised the teachers their allowances but they're still empty handed, he promised Bus drivers a 10 year contract and then "changed his mind...", he promised sound finances and accountability and Malta is drowning in deficit and Ministerial mismanagement.................

.............and you expect me to believe these people again!!?? U hallina tridx....Kelb mismut kull ilma jahsbu mishun!!!

e all know what the PL is better than the PN at doing - SPINNING! We have the PM on record multiple times declaring that Health is and will be free but it is easy for the PL to keep talking about one of a thousand recommendations made by people who prepared a report and to extrapolate that to Govt policy - something the PM has denied over and over again. But it is the PL that is deaf - deaf to the sound of the truth and what it does not want to hear.

Keep at it Joseph Muscat - you are no different to your predecessor.

@ Galea L

In Socialist times, the GWU attended Cabinet meetings so that it would be told first hand to shut up and do as Mintoff decided. Wage freezes, strikes, doctors leaving en-masse and the GWU kept mum!

"...pensioners used to live like rich people and could afford to give presents to their nephews and nieces" Are you suffering from dementia? Yes, you are partially right, pensioners could then afford presents to nephews and nieces as long as the present was not in the form of chocolates. Today pensioners have a variety of presents to choose from and still give them to nephews and nieces as long as their special occasion does not fall when the pensioners are away enjoying a holiday overseas.

Health care was free then too, but one could not understand what the foreign doctor was saying and neither did the doctor understand what your ailment was.

@ Angelo Micallef
Your questions have been answered long before you chose to repeat the usual rhetoric. Facts are written with black on white and since you insist on escaping the truth, I chose to remind you two recent cases in which the Nationalist Government has fed its credibility to the dogs.

Please remember that during Bondi+ Lawrence Gonzi did not even want to admit that he had a report about the health sector on his desk. When Muscat revealed the report Gonzi was forced to make a step further and change his version completely!
In the end, it is not a question of intentions or the subject of matters, it is a question of common sense that hopefully will help you to identify what it means to credible and trustworthy.

@ T Pulis

Nifhmek.... Blajna kanna li ma smajniex minn Alfred Sant u Joseph Muscat u dhalna fl-Unjoni Ewropeja... Mela allura nghid jghid x'hergin jaghmlu dawk li kienu jeqirdu li Malta gamblu zghir?? Din tal-gambli tinten wisq......

Is-sahha lilek ukoll..... u B"XEJN! ;)

@ LGalea

Qrajtu siehbi ta.... u ergajt qrajtu...... hallieha li mzelleg wahda sew bhal min ippublikah!! ;) Fittixt fit-TOR (taf x'inhuma?) u mkien ma sibt li r-rapport ghandu jinkludi xi items fuq hlas u mhux hlas.....

Heqq.... komplejt nikkonferma il-gideb min fejn gej!!!!!!!! Grazzi Sur Galea

Dear Albert Cunningham

I think you should have seen yesterday's discussion on TVM. Minister John Dalli was quite clear. Anzi, when Glenn Beddingfield said that the Govt did not deny this infamous lie, Minister Dalli aasked him if he (Glenn) is deaf (trux)

I think you are being subjected to a heavy brainwashing exercise!!!!!!!!

Wake up my dear friend....

A. Camilleri

Kieku blajna gamblu jinten BISS fiha u ma fihiex. Imma blajna bil-wisq aktar minn ftit millimetri ta' gamblu!

Sahha lilek

For people who are not blindfolded by party fanaticism things are quite clear. With respect to health services in Malta. Here is some food for thought:
Is it not clear that, yes we do have a grand hospital, however we have forked out an exorbitant amount of money due to an inefficient management?
Is it not clear that though we have this grand building, the service has hardly improved? More so, it has become worst since there was a lack of planning when it comes to human resources.
Is it not clear that this government is confusingly trying to tackle the problem of lack of human resources?
Is it not clear that this government has started off a new, brilliant scheme to limit the number of people going to Mater Dei's pharmacy, but to eventually not plan well as to make sure that medicines are available at the local pharmacies?
Is it not also clear to all that this scheme has only partially been implemented due to logistic issues, which rightly so, local pharmacy owners have often pointed out?
Is it not clear to everyone where this Government is heeding us?

p.s.
The GWU always defended the interests of the workers and pensioners so much so that during the Labour Government when its representatives used to attend Cabinet meeting pensioners used to live like rich people and could afford to give presents to their nephews and neices contrary to their situation now when they cannot even make ends meet.

A Camilleri et al
download the report and after reading it and comparing what PN exponents have been saying see whether the PL is saying the truth. As they say, il-qasba ma ccaqcaqx ghalxejn. Here's the link for you and the others Camilleri.
http://www.maltastar.com/userfiles/Report%20on%20Implementation%20of%20a%20Patient%20Registration%20System%20SMALL.pdf

Il-Mistoqsija oht il-Gherf!!!!

Mistoqsija:
Meta l-Labour kien fil-gvern bejn in-96 u n-98, u dahhal taxxa fuq il-medicini u taxxa fuq it-tabib tal-clinics, fejn kienet il-GWU???

Risposta:
Eh.. ijwa kien qed jaghmlilha rapport il-Profs Edward Scicluna he he he he he

@ R Spagnol- It seems you couldn't reply to my post so instead you wrote a post of your own and dragged my name into it just so as to avoid my getting jealous at Mr. De Martino for getting a post perhaps. I have never written or spoken a single word about the whole UHM-Freeport issue and I have no intention of doing so as I believe the matter is purely an industrial issue where both sides have their respective points and arguments.

I understand very well you preoccupation.

Since the Nationalist Party whom you are defending does not even trust you, how can you assume that we're being impressed by your apologistic stunts intentioned to defend those who don't believe/trust you?!

in reply to a statement made below. GWU will not ever stop licking up to PL.

I am sorry but you are being CHEATED as citizens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHO IS THE PRIME MINISTER: LAWRENCE GONZI or EDWARD SCICLUNA???

So STOP being brainwashed and misled by PN media and ask yourself this simple question!!

As far as I know, Prime Minister Gonzi of GonziPN had sworn that health service would NEVER be charged as long as he is a prime minister!!! That is a promise!
Edward Scicluna could have given his own opinion, but he did not make any promise to us citizens just like in Gonzi's case! Sorry!!!!!

If Gonzi wanted to win the election at all costs ... hekk haga ohra!

GWU, Shut up! So say the P.N.
But the peopple say, GWU do the right thing and challenge the government everytime it tries to impose further sacrifices. That is the true role of a Workers Union the like of the GWU.
Let us hope that those who denigrate the GWU will never come to need someone to defend them. Probably they are self sufficient and have friends not to need protection. Time will come to make them despair for not finding protection.

Ok lets say that this is "just a report" and the government "has no intention of charging healthcare" than why have we been hearing about the need for people to get bills after a stay in hospital "so they'd know how much their stay cost"??? Why did this report remain secret?? Why did Gonzi lie when he said that there are ongoing talks with the Association of Family docs. when this wasn't true? Why was the MUMN left out in all these discussions? And why did Gonzi kick a big fuss about this report ending in Muscat's hands? Shouldn't he as the PM been the one to publish it before?? Do any of you here consider Dalli's statement in Parliament 2 days ago one meaning that health will remain free because I think John Dalli being the sensible and rational politician that he is was quite evasive about the issue!!

Of course we will soon have to pay for Hospitals we had 266,000,000 euros deficit last year and 260,000,000 in the first 3 months of this year!! Is-Sahha ha ssir bil-hlas ghax il-pajjiz FINANZJARJAMENT FALLUT!!! The chickens are too close to home and the roosting is about to begin!!

I have already answered that question in these columns. YES, I am the same one, I do not withdraw one single word and I still believe what I said on that occasion, BUT that does not, CERTAINLY mean that I abandon my principles. I am not an opportunist and I still believe that there is ABSOLUTELY NO COMPARISION BETWEEN THE PN AND THE mlp. If I have a problem with the archpriest of Mosta it doesn't mean that I should turn Muslim. If you cannot understand this, my dear friend......

Il-GWU tqabbad hafna lil Profs Edward Scicluna biex jaghmilha xi rapporti kultant.

Nghid jien ghax ma tqabbdux biex jaghmilha rapport fuq dan ukoll : )

Din tas-sahha ma hija xejn hlief gimmick ohra Lejburista ......

Imma possibli hawn min jibqa jibla l' gambli jintnu?

S CASSAR

TAJN XEJN DIK HIJA L VERITA HI

IR-RAPPORT LI HAREG ALFRED SANT QABEL L-ELEZZJONI M'HUWIEX L'ISTESS RAPPORT LI GHADU KIF HAREG JM TA, TA JM IL GVERN GHAMLU XAGHREJN WARA L-ELEZZJONI BIEX MA TOQODX TAHSEB LI QED ISIR DAN TAPPOSTA GHAX GEJJA ELEZZJONI. HEKK RID THALLAS INT? ARA VERU AW NIES MA JFIEQU QATT TA.

at Jeremy Portelli

Following your comments below, I am surprised. It is either you did not read the report or have no idea of how a report is written.

Page 4 of the report shows the Terms of Reference that the task force had to do. The issues that the task force had to analyse and evaluate and reccomend to the Government. these TOR are given by who Commissions the report. In this case the Government.

Now, can you please tell me, where in the TOR of this report, there is written that the Government is asking the task force to evaluate the idea of costs???? If you cannot, then, you are simply a MLP blogger and believe everything that Joe Muscat says. Like you believed Alfred Sant before the last election about health costs...

Pity, certain people do not have a mind of their own to think and formulate thier own beliefs...

Jekk il Profs Scicluna forsi qal jew gie misinterpretat li qal hekk, allura intom tal PN suppost tifirhu ghax IlPN taghkom hekk irid, jaghmel is-sahha bi hlas.

Mr DeMartino,

Are you the same Giovanni who said the following?

“I have been one of the very few Nationalist supporters who are continually trying to blow the PN trumpet wherever I can and whenever I can. But little did I realise that some of my writings were not going down well with some officials at Tal-Pieta and little by little I was finding myself a persona non grata with the PN media.”

The Malta Independent 27.4.2005

Stop trying to offend our intelligence my friend!

Ask Prof Scicluna! The GWU should ask the MUT for help.

The same pantomine was seen and heard following Muscat's claims about foreign workers' working at the Freeport. PN apologists like Angelo Micallef below appluaded Gonzi for showing that Muscat is a liar and that the Freeport allegations aren't true.

Now that the UHM has agreed with Joseph Muscat and objected to foreign workers at the Freeport, who is not telling the whole truth?

Who is telling the truth when seeing the European Commission agreeing with PL in refusing to believe Lawrence Gonzi aboout the country's deficit?

Judging on these facts and considering how the Government has commissioned and endorsed the health report itself, one would obviously conclude that the Gonzi administration could not be trusted anymore.

@Edwin formosa. You've got to be joking :)

The gwu with this statement confirms if ever a confermation was needed that the defence of
the people is of utter importance.To all gonzipn apologists how can we take the PM
statements seriously when he did not keep most of his written asssurances.i.e,hunters,shipyard workers,go employees etc etc after all as he stated we judge him by his deeds and not by his words

@ R Gauci + Angelo Micallef Very sensible comments which are becoming rare

Dear GWU, it is no busineess of yours to impose on any political party what to do or what not to do. Neither is it your business to question any government whether it wants to tax health services or not. Rest assured that the PN governments always worked in the interests of the people and not in anyone's interest. If the government sees it in the national interest to impost taxes or rates or anything like Sant's Government did way back, the government as a responsible one, WILL DO IT. And it doesn't go announcing to the four winds what it will do in the future. Like someone said: the future beckons. But the government will not tell of all people the GWU, what it intends to do or not to do. The GWU should have questioned Profs Scicluna and not the Government since he thought it fit to say sometthing in this regard.

"How to leverage and access, international revenue streams through health tourism & patient migration, to fund and develop a sustainable & successful healthcare system for Maltese nationals and residents in Malta"

Initiare International LTD Malta, are ready to present a business model and development plan, to the relevant Government ministries, of how such reform in public and private sector healthcare can take place on the island.

Angelo Micallef calling others his masters voice is rather a case of the pot calling the kettle black isn't it?

@ Angelo Micallef

With all due respect you either do not know how the EP works or youre just spinning. How can an MEP "work to have charges imposed on health care in Malta" - Concretely, please.

It is the true that the PM has actually 'denied', albeit very unconvincingly, but he also did so in the last election, only to commission a report a couple of months after his re-election.

@R .Gauci

Again this is PN's rhetoric. If you really beleive that healthcare ought to remain free, you either do not commission reports assessing financial feasibility and how to finance it through public payments or if you do, you disclaim that the Gov'ts policy is not that!

Gonzi did none of these.

Plus, and this is most important: there are too many promises this PM has broken.......is this another one?

As the MLP's poodle, the GWU starts to bark immediately when it is asked to do so by its master

R GAUCH

How BLIND

Lintenzjoni biss bizzejjed my friend.

Ghalfejn ser dar l-istudju? ovvja l-intenzjoni hemm qeghda.

U hallikom minn scicluna! qed terqu u ma tafux ma xiex ser taqbdu. Qed terqu siehbi.
Xi wieghda grandjuza ohra minn taghkom biss tista ssalvakom.

Leeeeeee Tony Zarb ghax se ggieghal lil gvern jghid gidba ohra!

Pay attention please. The GWU has spoken.

The 'preferred Union' is contradicting Prof. Scicluna, an LP candidate for MEP. The GWU wants no part in any fee for Health Services, while the esteemed professor hints at future possible fees in order to sustain the system. One would understand then, that if the LP is ever elected to govern, the Health System will no longer be free. What will the GWU say then?

If any clarification is needed, it should come from the LP and not just from 'amended' words by Prof. Scicluna.

The GWU should listen more attentively when the Prime Minister speaks, since even from before the last election, he promised that health services will continue to be free.

If the general public expects any service exceeding the present level, then, of course, it is expected to pay for additional services. After all, that is why private hospitals continue to thrive since they can take care of those who are able to pay and 'jump the line'. This is not in any way unique.

issa harget l-Gwu fuq l-kwistjoni tas-sahha? Sena ilu ma qalet xejn fi zmien l-elezzjoni!
Tghid qed taghmila ta sponsor lil PL?
Dan min meta rapport jigi implementat mal-ewwel? Jew nghawgu fejn jaqblilna basta nitfaw t-tajn fuq haddiehor?

The GWU should also ask Labour candidate Prof Edward Scicluna for precisely the same statement.
On 'Reporter', the TVM programme, on 7th May 2008, Edward Scicluna, declared: "li tghid sahha b’xejn ghal kulhadd, il-hin kollu u minghajr limitu fuq x’tiehu u ma tiehux, fl-ebda pajjiz ma’ tezisti, u ma’ tistax tezisti hawn”.
This is not a report putting options before the government which the government can decline, but a declaration by a Labour candidate.

We have arrived at a point where commissioned reports are taken as being policy, plan and implementation. Governments must consult to get advice and then take decisions. Regardless of those recommendations the Government is ultimately responsible and just because a report says one thing does not mean the Govt is bound to implement it.

We are at a point where consultants are not even free to express their opinions freely as they are being interpreted as being Govt policy. How childish and immature!

Is the General Workers Union ready to ask the PL to condemn Prof. Edward Scicluna over the contents of his interview on Reporter broadcast on TVM?

Is the General Workers Union ready to ask Prof. Edward Scicluna to publically declare that if he is elected he won't work to have charges imposed on health care in Malta?

Is the General Workers Union aware that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has already made such a statement several times following the allegations on the Labour media including in the activity held at Pieta` infront of the PN Headquarters and on Bondi+ broadcast on TVM?

When will the General Workers Union stop serving as "his master's voice" of the Labour Party?