Michael Bonnici writes:

Though, sooner or later, the passing away of my colleague and old friend was expected, his departure was indeed sad news to all those who have experienced his friendship and willingness to be of service.

Joe was one of the last survivors of professional dispensers who meticulously used to handle the high-risk preparations when patent medicines were not all that common in hospitals and retail pharmacies.

His long career started in the 1950s at Santo Spirito Hospital in Rabat and continued, until more recently, at the old pharmacy of Mount Carmel Hospital, where I substituted him for some time. I can still recall his past methods of producing medicinal preparations, which had to be dispensed by crushing tablets in earthenware mortars, thus producing fine powder to make up solutions and mixtures for mental patients.

It was to his merit and hard work after the damning report in the 1960s regarding the state of the Mental Hospital in Attard that the place had a new decent pharmacy.

Joe’s professional experience also included serving as a medical representative for a well-renowned foreign pharma-ceutical company, introducing to the market new patent products for the benefit of Maltese patients through medical practitioners. His dedication to and love for his wife, Lina, his children, together with their spouses and grandchildren, were proof of his Christian values which he practised in a devout manner and for which he is already enjoying eternal life in the arms of the Lord.

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