The Alliance of Pensioners’ Organisations has welcomed the government’s plan to transform Zammit Clapp Hospital into a nursing home for the elderly and encouraged the creation of similar nursing homes in other localities in Malta and Gozo over the next five years.
It also welcomed the increase in the Services Pension, which it said, was a symbolic act by the government to show that it did not wish pensioners receiving such a pension lose part of it.
The alliance expressed its disappointment that there was nothing in the budget about a minimum guaranteed pension of 60 per cent of the average national wage for current pensioners and all those retiring up to 2026.
It was also disappointed that the government failed to give families a subsidy to make up for the increase in the water and electricity tariffs.