Withdrawal of medicines at a charge

I refer to the letter under the heading Blessings In Residence For The Elderly (Betty Lee, January 13).

From the outset I wish to state that it is not my intention to enter into a sort of polemic either with the home for the elderly or with Ms Lee.

However, I wish to state that Ms Lee failed to understand the message in my letter of January 6.

It appears that she took the whole point from a very wrong angle. Nowhere did I say that the home administration was not taking care of the residents, as it should be. After all that’s why elderly people take up residence in old people’s homes. It is quite obvious that they take this step because they are unable to look after themselves in their home environment.

With regard to the request of the €10 monthly from each resident to withdraw medicines from the nearby pharmacy, it was completely out of place.

Ms Lee stated that the residents were happy to pay the €10 monthly as they would not queue up at the respective pharmacy. This is not the case because the system is very efficient and no queues are seen at the pharmacy in Naxxar. The decision for this demand was taken arbitrarily by the home administration.

So much so that the decision was eventually withdrawn on December 3 (and not on the 5th as stated by Ms Lee though this was corrected on timesofmalta.com to read 3rd as the date of withdrawal).

It is to be said that the decision to reverse the €10 monthly demand from the residents was not taken by the home administration but by a direct order from the ecclesiastical authorities.