Gozitans are not on a par with Maltese when it comes to Mater Dei Hospital. Gozitans who have to go through the unfortunate experience of holding vigil beside a loved one who is at Mater Dei are subjected to hardships which their Maltese counterparts do not begin to fathom. Neither government nor the hospital administration seems to understand their duty and responsibility in providing Gozitan visitors with a modicum of decent facilities and comfort.
It is rare that Maltese citizens have to accompany a loved one who is admitted to a bed in the hospital in Gozo. In contrast, many a Gozitan has to do so at Mater Dei. Though this appears to be just a switch in the order of things, and most of us would not think too much about it, in reality it is very often a nightmare for Gozitans.
It is a frequent occurrence that Gozitan patients, irrespective of age, including children and the aged, have to spend short or long periods of time at Mater Dei Hospital. To have someone accompanying them during such a difficult time, three options are available: the accompanying person has to keep coming and going to Gozo on a daily basis, has to live on a hard armchair in a ward until the hospital wardens run out of patience or has to rent a flat somewhere in Malta for as long as the patient is in hospital.
Not a few choose the first option. Some others decide on the third. The most, it seems, opt for the second choice, since it appears to be the better of the three. Of course, all the options are dismal.
Free healthcare shouldn’t mean, at least in this case, expenses for the accompanying visitors
I have personally met Gozitans who had to do this for only a few days, and also others who were forced to do this for months on end. The Maltese, who do not have to go through this gruelling experience, do not even start to grasp the hardship, distress and suffering this causes Gozitans accompanying their loved ones.
Just imagine. One’s life is totally suspended, not for a short visit of a few hours a day, but for 24 hours, seven days a week, sometimes for weeks and months. This is already very tough. Add to this that one has to make arrangements to take time off work, to leave wife, husband or partner behind, and, as very often happens, to abandon one’s children for a fairly long period of time.
All of this to live like some refugee, cut off from everything and everyone. Then, to add to the misery of it all, there are the considerable expenses involved, and health and hygiene issues.
The cruel fact is that in Malta, no facilities exist for Gozitans who have to accompany a loved one while at Mater Dei. No facilities exist at the hospital itself, nor at any other place. The government doesn’t seem to cater for such citizens and such situations.
Gozitans who have to do this due to dire necessity have to fend absolutely for themselves at their own loss and cost.
According to Mater Dei’s chief executive, whom I contacted through the Ministry of Health, there exists no facility at Mater Dei which provides for the needs of Gozitans accompanying their loved ones.
Not only for those who have to stay at the hospital for days, weeks or months, nor for those who have to do so for a single day from before sunrise to after sunset. All of these are simply treated in exactly the same way, as if they were Maltese visitors – which is absolutely not the case, and absurd.
Mater Dei Hospital should have a reserved part of its large complex which offers at least basic facilities to Gozitans who have to spend a whole day there, sometimes well into the night, but especially to those who have to stay for longer periods of time, even months, accompanying the ill.
If this is not possible, some place might be made available outside the hospital for the same purposes. These should be free of charge. Free health care shouldn’t mean, at least in this case, expenses for the accompanying visitors.
It is the government’s duty and responsibility, and also the hospital’s, to create ways and means to alleviate the hardships of Gozitan citizens accompanying the ill. Very little, if at all, seems to have been done so far.
These citizens have special needs which need attention.
In this particular case, they absolutely cannot be treated as if they were Maltese citizens with much broader opportunities in relation to visitation rights.