Nationalist Party deputy leader Mario de Marco explained today that he was forced away from the political scene for some time because of medical treatment but he has since been busy in party and parliamentary activities.
In a Facebook post, Dr de Marco said he had noted comments and posts online lamenting that he was recently absent from the media and the public sphere. This gave the impression that it was irrelevant to him and other PN MPs as to whether the Nationalist Party wins the upcoming general election or not.
"I spent most of December recovering from surgery I underwent in the UK at the end of November.
"Upon my return to Malta I resumed my parliamentary and party duties. Over the last 10 days for instance I held a press conference on government’s budget overruns, intervened in the meeting with the College of Commissioners in Parliament, spoke in parliament on three separate occasions – once on the new legal notice that changed business hours for retailers, another time on the Companies Act and yesterday on the Budget Implementation Act - issued a press statement condemning government on its reckless use of public finances, published a Talking Point article in The Times, submitted over 200 parliamentary questions and met with constituents for various hours.
"I also participated in various internal party meetings, spoke last Saturday on Radio 101 and as usual spent Sunday morning touring my constituency.
"My Facebook posts during the past week reached 65,000 people.
"So much for being absent and invisible. I have always done my utmost to help my party in a united, dignified and determined way together with all my colleagues. I ask each one of you to do the same," Dr de Marco said.
He said that 2015 and 2016 were not easy years for him for health reasons which he had assumed were known to most. That, however, did not appear to be the case.
I have undergone two major surgeries, other relatively minor interventions, had to get to grips with a facial paralysis, undertook several MRI scans and visited some eight times the UK for my out-patient appointments.
"I have undergone two major surgeries, other relatively minor interventions, had to get to grips with a facial paralysis, undertook several MRI scans and visited some eight times the UK for my out-patient appointments.
"In between, I attended to the best of my abilities my parliamentary, party and professional duties. Despite the need to use surgical tape to hike up an otherwise paralysed side of my mouth, I have never shied away from my duties or debates," he said.
"Thankfully the worst is over."
Dr de Marco said he believed in a degree of personal privacy and he had hoped that his sporadic but needed and justified absence would go unnoticed or be understood.
"Regrettably it seems that this was not the case as evident from recent comments online over the last few days."