Occupy Justice call on for Attorney General’s resignation

Jul 2 2022

Protesting on Friday evening, activists from Occupy Justice called on the Attorney General to ‘pack up and go’, in reference to a recent blunder which led to a bribery acquittal for Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers.

The activists left a number of suitcases outside the Attorney General’s office after Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran had been charged by police of attempting to bribe Times of Malta journalist Ivan Martin. They attempted to hand him hundreds of euros at the end of a meeting.

The charges were cleared after the magistrate ruled the relevant offence was not properly indicated by Attorney General Victoria Buttigieg. The Attorney General was called on by the IGM to take responsibility as it qualified the criminal officer wrongly, forcing the magistrate to clear the lawyers of attempted bribery.

In a memo, the activists said that Malta urgently needs independent, courageous and competent people in key positions who ‘are prepared to do their job without fear or favour’.

‘You are failing Malta at a critical point in her history, and we’ve had enough. Pack your bags and go.’

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Ex Eurovision winner Gianluca Bezzina receives Saviour Cilia Award

Jul 2 2022

Dr Gianluca Bezzina, who previously represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 in Sweden, has just been awarded the Saviour Cilia Award by the Malta College of Family Doctors.

‘This award is given to the candidate who shows outstanding performance during the MMCFD examination’ the Foundation for Social Welfare Services explained.

‘Dr Bezzina who has been working for the past three years with FSWS, is now following a training programme to specialise further in Addiction Medicine.’

Bezzina, who is a medical doctor, also took on music as a part time passion, quickly rising to local fame after he won the local edition of the Eurovision with the song ‘Tomorrow’. Making it to the final, Bezzina managed to finish in 8th place with a total score of 120 points.

Bezzina’s song “Tomorrow” became the first Maltese Eurovision Song Contest to enter the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 37, for a week.

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78 nurses quit every year due to shortage crisis reveals health minister

Jul 2 2022

Malta is currently experiencing an exodus of nurses from their profession, with around 78 resigning every year from the public health sector since 2017.

The figures were revealed by Health Minister Chris Fearne in response to a parliamentary question tabled by PN MP Ivan Castille.

In 2021, more than 120 nurses left their jobs at Mater Dei Hospital, with many being foreign nationals seeking better jobs in other countries. However, young Maltese nurses are also making such a move. Head of the nursing union, Paul Pace, warned that around 500 nurses left the profession last year.

Apart from staff shortages, the increasing piles of administrative work as well as Malta’s uncompetitive wages are contributing to this mass exodus.

This also came among many directives and calls for action by the union for health authorities to address the issue. When the union attempted to speak out in favour of nursing rights, Pace said that it was instead slapped with a lawsuit.

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Monkeypox cases in Europe tripled in 2 weeks as WHO calls for action

Jul 2 2022

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) European chief warned last Friday that monkeypox cases in the region have tripled in the last two weeks.

The health organisation urged countries to do more to ensure that the previously rare disease does not become entrenched and endemic on the continent.

To date, well over 5000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 51 countries worldwide. The number of infections in Europe represents around 90% of the global total, with 31 countries in Europe having identified cases.

Meanwhile, African health authorities have said that they are treating the growing outbreak as an emergency. They are now calling on rich countries to share limited vaccine supplies to avoid equity problems which were seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO Europe chief, said in a statement that the increased efforts were needed, despite the UN health agency’s decision last week deeming the outbreak as not warranting being declared a global health emergency.

Kluge said that urgent and coordinated action is imperative if ‘we are to turn a corner in the race to reverse the ongoing spread of this disease.’ No deaths have thus far been reported, and about 10% of patients were hospitalised for treatment or had to be isolated.

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