Emergency room admissions rise higher than usual

Aug 11 2022

Emergency room admissions have risen higher than usual, as Mater Dei has been facing a lot of pressure ever since the closure of the Birkirkara health clinic. This is made worse by the fact that the months of July and August are peak tourism months.

Last Monday there was reportedly an emergency room admission every 2 minutes. A spokesperson for the ministry of health later confirmed that, on average, the emergency room sees 370 patients a day. Last Monday saw 485 patients admitted.

Normally emergency room patients wait around 30 minutes to get their initial triage examination by a nurse. However, on Monday, some patients had to wait well over 2 hours for this initial test. Patients were treated by the urgency of their issue rather than the time they are admitted.

The spokesperson also had this to say; “There were sustained periods where a new patient at the emergency department was registered every two minutes. As per usual protocol, all patients are seen by professionals in order of urgency,”

The fact that July and August are peak tourism months also doesn’t help. Most tourists usually ignore the smaller health clinics found around the island and go directly to Mater Dei given it is the national hospital.

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Disney+ officially overtakes Netflix with most subscribers

Aug 11 2022

Disney has officially overtaken Netflix’s streaming numbers as it racked up 221 million subscribers by the end of last quarter.

Whereas Disney registered 221.1 million subscribers at the end of the June quarter, Netflix registered 220.7 million. This comes as Disney announces an option which includes advertising which will cost $7.99 monthly.

As ad-free Disney+ subscriptions jump to $10.99 in December, Netflix continues to struggle with losses. It had a $50 billion deduced from its market cap in April after it reported its first loss in ten years.

One month later, the streaming giant was rumoured to be introducing adverts for certain subscriptions this year. This also came as it dropped from adding 2.5 million subscribers down to 200,000.

Despite the success of series like Stranger Things, Netflix still had to resort to introducing lower-tier subscriptions to allow those who don’t mind subscriptions to pay less in exchange for seeing commercial messages. This was revealed by CEO Reed Hastings back in April.

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WATCH: Maltese woman showing off singing skills racks thousands of views

Aug 10 2022

X-Factor Season 4 better watch out – there’s brand new talent on the block. Jessica Chetcuti has been blessing her TikTok followers with clips of her showing off her mesmerising voice.

In fact, her video covering Benson Boone’s ‘In the Stars’ racked up upwards of 5000 views since it was posted, as well as a plethora of comments showing her some well deserved support.

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Her raw takes on some international hits have made waves on the social media app. Could this be the rise of another potential singing star on the island taking up the challenge for competitions such as X-Factor?

We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, we can enjoy Jessica’s other song covers.

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Celebrating a decade of Science in the City

Aug 10 2022

30th September and 1st October 2022 mark the tenth anniversary of Malta’s beloved Science and Arts festival. This year the festival ventures back outdoors after a two-year hiatus brought on by the pandemic.

Fort St Elmo will become a bustling hub of science, fun, and creativity, while Sala San Duminku will stage a number of unique performances for all to enjoy. The festival is also focusing on the communities outside of Valletta with Senglea and the Citadel in Gozo.

Over the past decade Science in the City (SitC) has attracted close to 300,000 visitors, 950 researchers, 250 artists, and some 1,000 organisations to the festival.

For an entire decade, SitC has built bridges between researchers, artists and communities to organise events that spark curiosity and wonder in those who attend.

The goal of what has developed into a hybrid festival is to showcase the importance of critical thinking and STEAM careers in today’s world. This festival mirrors the goals of the European Researchers’ Night happening in 300 cities throughout Europe on the same days.

The line-up of activities is not only entertaining but sensitive to the challenges we all face. In a statement to the press, Dr. Edward Duca, Coordinator of the festival states how, “creativity and science continue to underpin the pillars of this national event”.

Festival manager Karen Fiorini stresses how important it is for each activity in the festival to engage its audiences via interactive, unique events. “Each activity works towards raising awareness about issues that resonate with the theme; diversity and inclusion, climate change, media literacy, and health, among others. This is reflected in the artistic activities chosen by the team for the festival”.

For the festival, scientists and artists work closely together with the goal of encouraging audiences to take a more active role in society and in protecting the planet.

Musician John Hinton is collaborating with Blue Eco Tech Ltd researcher Alexia Massa Galluci, to learn about the superpowers of seagrass and how it can help save the planet from burning, the resulting concert and songwriting workshop will be staged at St Dominic’s theatre.

Choreography by dance practitioners Sandra Mifsud and Douglas Comley working with researchers from Birdlife Malta and youths, to highlight the importance of biodiversity. The dance will be held in Piazza D’Armi, Fort St. Elmo on Friday 30th September. More about the programme of activities will be revealed during the press conference planned for the third week of August.

The 10th festival is exploring the theme – Taking Root, building on the focus of previous years, where the relevance of science and research in everyday life, as well as in active, responsible citizenship, continues to be explored.

On Friday 30th September University student organisations, researchers, artists and creatives, NGOs, government agencies and private companies will converge on Piazza D’Armi and Piazza Cavalier to enthral visitors of all ages between 6pm and 11pm with street art, labs, comedy, games, shows, music, interactive and hands on experiments and demos.

There will also be satellite events at Spazju Kreattiv, in Senglea and at the Citadel in Gozo. While online, interactive activities will be held for those who prefer a quiet night in, between 7pm – 11pm. Performances and game shows will be held below St Dominic’s Basilica in Merchant Street, in the underground theatre between 5pm and 11pm and again on Saturday 1st October between 10am and 5pm, and during Notte Bianca from 7pm till 11pm.

Science in the City is part of the EU-wide celebration, European Researchers’ Night. It is co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement No 101061120, the Arts Council Malta (ACM) and a number of corporate sponsors. It is recognised by Europe for Festivals and Festivals for Europe (EFFE).

The Science in the City consortium is led by the University of Malta and the Malta Chamber of Scientists, in partnership with the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation, Trust Stamp Ltd, Malta Enterprise, MCAST, Qualia Analytics, Esplora, BPC International, SEM, PBS, Spazju Kreattiv, Aquabiotech, Valletta Design Cluster, Valletta Cultural Agency, Transport Malta, The Environment Resource Agency, WasteServ, Heritage Malta and More or Less Theatre.

This communication reflects the author’s view and the European Commission is not responsible for any information it contains.

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