It is only good and proper that the necessary investigations are carried out to find who was responsible for the squandering of funds at Mater Dei, but any attempt by the government to draw political mileage out of the Dalli report will not impress anyone.

Most people have ceased to be shocked by the shortcomings at the hospital. Many have themselves experienced problems over appointments, over-crowding and shortage of medicines and certainly need no expert to tell them what the main causes of these problems are and what needs to be done.

What the people expect from administrators and politicians is that they get to grips with the problem and start treating it as a national issue, rather than the political football it has always been. Facile generalisations do not impress anyone as the problems at the hospital have been germinating for many years. Many of them have migrated from St Luke’s to Mater Dei lock, stock and barrel. They are rooted so deep in the psyche of all who work at the hospital that it would now be puerile to put the blame solely on specific people.

It is not just the former Nationalist administration that is responsible but all those who have had a share in the growth of the problem as it evolved. Sectoral interests have embedded themselves so pervasively over the years that it is now difficult to extricate them from the matrix that has been created. And yet extricated they must be if a real attempt is to be made to ensure that Mater Dei hospital is run efficiently.

Experts have long warned that the health service is financially unsustainable, but politicians have often closed both eyes to the issue, promising the electorate all the time that the service will remain free. This is the biggest political ruse the parties come up with, for the health service is far from free. It is paid for by taxpayers.

John Dalli’s report does not add to the people’s concern over the state of things at the hospital. Neither does it come up with any shattering innovative recommendations. People know that the situation at Mater Dei is not as it should be as examples of bad management and practices are revealed from time to time.

Mr Dalli says in his report: “There must not be political interference that for many years rendered the management of this hospital as an ineffectual accessory that implemented decisions taken by the health ministry or the Office of the Prime Minister. My appeal to government is that if we really want an efficient hospital – hands off.”

Well, are all the parties involved – the government, Opposition and all the politicians individually – prepared to do this? Not very likely, given the widespread mentality of clientelism that still exists today. Yet, if any real progress is to be made in such an essential service, a way has to be found for all the vested interests to start drawing back.

Ensuring an autonomous management system, as the Dalli report is suggesting, can help put the national health service on a sounder footing. But for this to come about, a genuine interest has to be shown by all concerned, including the trade unions, in seeing to what needs to be done. Are they prepared to do this?

Little progress will be made if all the interested parties remain rooted in long-established practices meant to preserve their patch.