In one of her articles, Justyne Caruana, the Parliamentary Secretary for the Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Aging, wrote the following: “Lest we forget, older people and professionals in the field of aging were for many years waiting for a national strategy on active aging, something that never materialised.”

Now that the national minimum standards for care homes have been published, what effect will this have on the 2,000 elderly persons waiting on the list for the residences that had been promised? Or have they been forgotten?

It is sad that Michael Farrugia, in his reply to a parliamentary question, said that only 194 “new” beds had been introduced, all in government homes, when a project to create many more places in a private public partnership scheme had been prepared and was ready to function.

With 50 applicants (October 24, 2013) offering an average of 30 to 40 beds, the list would have been exhausted. It is strange that a change in a parliamentary secretariat should seemingly have created such a blockage given that the same government is still in power.

It is obvious that funds were already available for this project, otherwise, the former minister and parliamentary secretary would never have embarked on such a scheme. There seems to be a perception that the funds are now being directed to some new initiative for the elderly in Gozo. A declaration by the parliamentary secretary to dispel such a perception would be most welcome in the circumstances.

Equally welcome would be a full explanation of what has happened to the private public partnership scheme.

In his address in Żabbar last Sunday, the Prime Minister said that “the Maltese economy is moving forward and more jobs are being created”. Would not the roughly 50 new residences help in the creation of more new jobs? What is hindering such progress?