Nationalist MP reinforces message of low Ebola risk from migration

The threat of the deadly Ebola virus reaching Malta's shores due to immigration from West African countries is low, PN health spokesperson Claudio Grech said. 

"The incubation period for Ebola is a maximum of 21 days," Grech said. "This means that any Ebola victims who arrive in Malta would already have developed visible symptoms which would then be detected at our ports."

"However, the Ebola virus remains active in corpses too. We must therefore ensure that the people rescuing corpses from the sea are given all necessary protection against the virus."

The Ebola virus has so far killed 2,461 people since its recent outbreak, the WHO said. The virus causes fever and uncontrolled bleeding. This recent outbreak was first confirmed in Guinea back in March but it has since spread across Liberia and Sierra Leone. A handful of Ebola deaths have also been recorded in Nigeria, Senegal and Congo.

"We fully support the Government's efforts to prevent Ebola from reaching Malta," Grech said. "There is no blue or red where such a sensitive issue is concerned."

Mater Dei

Grech believes that people should be held technically, but not politically, responsible for the situation at the Mater Dei A&E ward. Tests on the concrete used to construct columns in the hospital’s accident and emergency department revealed that it is of inferior quality than that stipulated in the contract agreement. A government inquiry is ongoing.

“If those results are accurate, then the people who paid for the concrete and the people who certified that it could be used for construction should be held responsible,” Grech said. “We can spend all day arguing about who should shoulder political responsibility but that sort of argument will only lead us further from the truth.”

“Using that logic, I can point fingers at a minister for allowing someone to park a car on the St Luke’s helipad,” Grech said. “That might be how politics used to work in the past but these type of arguments insult peoples’ intelligence.”

Ray Busuttil

Grech praised the election of former Public Health Superintendent Ray Busuttil to the World Health Organisation board and took a stab at the government for choosing to replace him with Richard Zammit.

“The government clearly slipped up here,” Grech said. “People of Busuttil’s calibre are a rare breed and now his skills are being recognised at the highest international level.

“Busuttil wasn’t a political appointment. I have no idea why the government chose to replace him.”