Without going into the merits of Philip Carabot’s case (‘Sex health clinic is closed’ (The Sunday Times of Malta, October 26), I feel that a complete overhaul of the retirement age is urgently required .

The retirement age of 61 (65 in certain instances) was established way back when life expectancy was in the early 60s.

With better medicine and healthcare, life expectancy is now much higher. Does it make sense to make a person give up work in the prime of his career?

The retirement age could be made flexible, for example at age 61, but with the option of staying on a few years longer. With better tertiary education, many are starting their working life later, for example at 25, thus having only 35 years of active service.

There is no easy solution as a ‘one-size-fit-all’ approach will not work. However, it is important to stop the dogmatic intransigent approach of the civil service.

A national conference should be held to find a solution to this issue.