Labour and the tunnel

The news item Labour Says Yes To Gozo Tunnel... But (February 5) quotes me saying “Would the permanent link mean people from Mellieħa, only 10 minutes away, come to Gozo General Hospital for their medical needs? Will we lose this? We have to see whether Gozo will lose its benefits. These are the things we have to consider.” This report makes a travesty of truth.

What I actually said was: “However, in my opinion, to have this permanent link between Malta and Gozo seriously considered, we need to take a comprehensive approach. We have to see if the fact that Gozo is brought closer to the centre would entail the loss of benefits that the island has, benefits like the hospital, for example. If Gozo is brought closer to Malta, in the sense that it will be only 10 minutes away from Mellieħa; and there is no hospital in Mellieħa, would the Gozo General Hospital be closed?”

This shows that what I said could in no way be interpreted, as was done in this news item reporting my speech, that I expressed my worry that the tunnel “would ruin the island’s benefits including sharing its hospital with the residents of Mellieħa”. My worry is not that Mellieħa residents come to Gozo for their hospital needs. Indeed they would be most welcome if they choose to do so. My worry is that if a hospital is not justified in Mellieħa, would the Gozo Hospital still be justified if the island were to be only 10 minutes farther away, thus leading to some arguing for its closing down? That is my worry.

Here we come to the crux of the matter. At present some 50,000 out-patients and some 6,000 inpatients are provided annually with their medical and health care at the Gozo Hospital. Over half a million laboratory tests are carried out at the same hospital. Here, two fundamental questions crop up.

If the Gozo hospital were to be closed, would all these thousands of Gozitan patients have to go to Mater Dei to get the care they need? Mellieħa people do. So, the question could arise, why should the Gozitans not do the same?! If the Gozo hospital were to be closed, would the 700 to 800 specialists, doctors, nurses, paramedical and other hospital staff at present working at the hospital be transferred lock, stock and barrel to Mater Dei?

This same scenario would apply, inter alia, to the Gozo Courts, the Gozo University Centre, the Police Headquarters, the Education Office and to the Gozo Ministry itself.

These are some of the important issues that, unfortunately, no one is mentioning, that would need to be analysed in-depth in a socio-economic study to establish whether the tunnel has a net benefit to Gozo or otherwise.

These are some of the important issues that worry me.