I recently had the occasion to visit the Half Way House section at Mount Carmel Hospital and I was shocked at what I saw. The occupants of this section are in a deplorable state. They do nothing except sit around the lounge drinking coffee or go out to have a smoke.

One of them told me that if they only had a billiard table (which some of them are interested in) they could at least have a game every now and then. Another patient complained that they don’t even have Wi-Fi. This is deplorable.

These people need an incentive to find something interesting to do during their free hours. Surely something can be done to help in this state of affairs. A couple of them do not have a single cent to their name and they get no remuneration whatsoever. Can you imagine yourself going about with not even a cent in your purse, day in day out?

Some of them are there simply because they are homeless.

This is a pitiful state of affairs and I call on whoever is responsible to do something to help these individuals and to do it quickly. Please.