Agreement from a former minister
Former Health Minister Joe Cassar has said that he wouldn’t change a thing in terms of how the health authorities are handling the virus situation on the island.
Such a statement coming from a former health minister who sat on the other side of the House of Parliament must be seen as a thumbs up to the way the health authorities nowadays are operating. Cassar made the statement with no political strings attached, as he is no longer in politics, thus meaning he made these statements freely based purely on his personal opinion.
The Nationalist Party has also backed the measures issued by the health authorities, but has raised concerns mainly on one issue, the prefabricated hospital. Opposition Leader Adrian Delia still has doubts about the transparency of the tender. This, after an inquiring board had found no wrongdoing in the tender process regarding claims of trading in influence after allegations were made by PN MP Jason Azzopardi. Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci has, since then, stressed that the prefabricated hospital project should continue because, come winter, Malta will be dealing with two viruses concurrently – the Coronavirus and seasonal influenza.
Despite this one issue, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that success so far in containing the virus is due to the tireless work of doctors, nurses and all other health professionals, as well as the various restrictions implemented by the health authorities in terms of enforcing social distancing, closing non-essential stores and others, which must be applauded.
Indeed, Cassar mentioned that the health authorities in other countries who are not following the WHO guidelines are drowning, but thankfully Malta is not in that boat.
Malta has registered its first day without a new virus victim, which shows that measures are indeed working. At the same time, the authorities must not rush to loosen restrictions simply because of the recent low number of new virus cases, as that could just result in a sharp upturn. Remain vigilant. The only way Malta will get through this with minimal casualties is if the health of the people remains the number one priority.
Former Health Minister Cassar also brought up another issue in an interview with this newsroom, regarding education and in particular, the importance of children sticking to the timetables they used to follow before schools were closed down.
This newsroom agrees with Dr Cassar, and parents should do all they can to ensure that during the time when their children are meant to be at school, they focus on learning and completing tasks given to them through the e-learning system. This way, their routine will not be disrupted as much, and their minds could be kept sharp. Obviously, this is not something which can easily be done by all parents, given that in some families both parents work, but as far as possible parents should encourage this.