Opinion: Carmen Ciantar’s blood letting

Kim Jong-Il had a supernatural birth upon a sacred mountain amidst rainbows. He could walk by three weeks old and talk at eight, he wrote 1500 books in three years and composed six operas.  Kim Jong-Un was a child genius who could drive a car by age three.  The world envies North Korean prosperity.

These are just a few examples of the wildly fanciful claims North Korean propaganda pushes as fact. But if you think that propaganda is hilarious, try reading a sponsored article by Carmen Ciantar.

Ciantar is one of Labour’s highest-paid persons of trust, earning €163,000 annually. She is Chris Fearne’s campaign manager who notoriously suspended herself and then suspended her own self-suspension.

She’s meant to be the CEO of the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS), but when campaign duty called, she allegedly abandoned her FMS post, taking her personal secretary, Stephanie Dimech, with her to run Fearne’s election campaign and then his deputy leadership campaign.

Yet despite her obscenely exorbitant remuneration, she keeps making a fool of herself and the institution she represents. She’s giving Kim Jong Un a run for his money in the propaganda stakes, as you can see by the insane level of hyperbole in her article, prefaced with the bombastic title: “Foundation for Medical Services unveils a healthcare revolution”.

What was this healthcare revolution that Carmen Ciantar was bragging about?

Unbelievably, a small health centre was inaugurated in sleepy Victoria, Gozo, but you wouldn’t know it by reading her introduction.

“In an ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, a silent catalyst is at work creating a bridge between a healthcare design, environmental consciousness and the diverse needs of our society. FMS stands at the forefront of this transformation, advocating for innovative healthcare facilities that prioritise not only patient wellness but also the wellbeing of our planet and the inclusivity of all individuals”.

What’s so revolutionary about a small health centre? They’ve been around since Mintoff’s polyclinics in the 1980s, but Ciantar thinks she’s “at the forefront” of saving “our planet”.

But this is more than just any health centre. According to the megalomaniacal Ciantar, this is “a paradigm shift in Gozo’s healthcare landscape”, and she insists she’s “pioneering a healthcare horizon in Gozo”.

So what’s so special about it? “The chosen location is more than geography, it is about accessibility and proximity to the community it serves”.

For heaven’s sake, this is Gozo we’re talking about – all nine by 4.5 miles of it, where you could throw a stone from one end to the other.

But hang on, there’s more, wait for it. The New Victoria Health Centre even has a “new elevator which further emphasises the dedication to ease of access”.

It’s truly amazing – a new health facility which even has a lift. A genuine revolution, no wonder we’re paying Ciantar €163,000.

She even bragged that toilets had been installed in that health centre. 

“The design, plumbing, electrical systems and safety features are not mere afterthoughts; they are carefully orchestrated elements ensuring seamless healthcare delivery and an excellent workspace for its staff”, Ciantar bluffed.

This reads like a Monty Python sketch. How does having a toilet and a wash-hand basin “ensure seamless healthcare delivery”? And “an excellent workspace for its staff”? Did she expect the staff to walk up to it-Tokk to relieve themselves in the public toilets?

Ciantar insisted that the health centre would be “revolutionising service at the heart of the community”. How?

She bragged that “far beyond a mere upgrade, this health-centre haven introduces a spectrum of services promising a new era of healthcare excellence”.

Those amazing new services include “the traditional GP and nursing offerings”, “a diabetes clinic”, and bizarrely “blood-letting clinics”. Is she procuring leeches for that purpose?

Blood-letting is not revolutionary, it is one of medicine’s oldest and most discredited practices, which began with the Ancient Egyptians over 3000 years ago. It was used in the medieval ages as treatment for plague and smallpox and in the 18th century for fever and inflammation of the lungs. It’s been mostly abandoned, except in very rare specific situations, because it is harmful to patients and killed thousands. 

Yet, Ciantar is bragging that she’s introducing the medieval practice to Gozo and hailing it as revolutionary.

The only thing that’s revolutionary here is how Gozo was promised a new 450-bed state-of-the-art hospital, its own cardiac angiosuite, and hundreds of new jobs. Instead, it has been given a small clinic with the most basic services and the medieval practice of bloodletting for good measure.

That’s like being promised a top-of-the range performance sports car and instead being given a Matchbox toy version of the vehicle – with the added insult that the CEO is trying to convince you that the Matchbox version is even better than the Ferrari you were promised.

And to add insult to injury, she called the opening of the health centre “a realisation of the Gozitan community’s hopes”.  I guess Gozitans have learned not to expect Labour’s wild promises to be kept and toned down their “hopes” accordingly.

Ciantar’s wild claims are nothing short of hilariously ridiculous – “a beacon of health innovation”, “triumph over adversity”, “a journey to excellence”, “a saga of triumph over challenges”, and “an unwavering commitment to the community’s well-being”.

She referred to the health centre’s  “current pinnacle of achievement” before it even started functioning.

“It signifies a strategic shift to alleviate the burden on Gozo’s sole hospital”, “it pioneers a revolution where innovation, accessiblity and sustainability converge for the holistic well being of the community”, she concluded.

What is truly disturbing is that this is the Foundation for Medical Services CEO. She thinks providing “the traditional GP and nursing offerings” is innovative.

She believes that the harmful medieval practice of blood-letting is revolutionary. She maintains that having water and electricity in a health facility ensures “seamless healthcare delivery”. What’s even more distressing is that we’re paying her €163,000 for this drivel.

Editor’s Note: Our research found that Ciantar’s article was generated by ChatGPT, a free generative AI tool which can write articles based on instructions and prompts from a user. Based on scores from three separate AI detectors, 64% and 90% of the article was generated using ChatGPT.

                           

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27 Comments
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Vanni
Vanni
11 months ago

Dear editor,
I humbly submit that as Ciantar signed the article, she is still responsible for this hilariously sad puff piece that the Professor has commented upon.

Last edited 11 months ago by Vanni
saviour mamo
saviour mamo
11 months ago

What is most of concern to the citizens is the quality of the medicines that the POYC is providing. The quality is getting poorer by the day.

makjavel
makjavel
11 months ago
Reply to  saviour mamo

Cheaper , for the government , and worse for the patient.
To see the difference , buy the same from the Pharmacy.

Elle Bonello Azzoppardi
Elle Bonello Azzoppardi
11 months ago
Reply to  saviour mamo

I have to agree with you completely about this, I left Malta a year 8 months ago. In Malta, I used to get medicines via the POYC now here in Slovakia I get the same medicine but the product name is different and the medicine is surely more effective. It is a pity to see that even the healthcare system is failing in Malta.

Mick
Mick
11 months ago

Got to say Kevin I thought at first it was a script for Maltese Monty Python skit but hilarious seems a bit timid really, hysterical seems more appropriate.

Ġwanni Fenek
Ġwanni Fenek
11 months ago

OpenAI’s servers must be working overtime to produce this level of garbage. Goes to show that Labour can’t even get propaganda right.

makjavel
makjavel
11 months ago

The same could be happening with all the Cabinets speeches. No wonder , I start pinching myself to se if I am day dreaming hearing what they are talking about. Even worse , the Ministers are not understanding their script. Abela goes to the moon and back.

Anne R. Key
Anne R. Key
11 months ago

These pigs and leaches must be made to suffer – all other measures would be deemed superfluous!

Robbie Tabone
11 months ago

Bovine bowel movement, that’s what it is!

Lawrence Mifsud
Lawrence Mifsud
11 months ago
Reply to  Robbie Tabone

AI definition?

Godfrey Leone Ganado
Godfrey Leone Ganado
11 months ago

A cheat with a brain stuffed with stagnant Labour shit, and swindling us taxpayers €163,000 yearly besides some secret truckload full of perks.

Steve
Steve
11 months ago

Kummidjanta tal-prima klassi

Lawrence Mifsud
Lawrence Mifsud
11 months ago
Reply to  Steve

Ma tantx iddahhaq,ta!

makjavel
makjavel
11 months ago

Blood Suckers would be more appropriate.
But then how much of the blood is transferred to her boss?

Toni Borg
Toni Borg
11 months ago

so not only was she bombastic about a clinic, she didn’t even bother to write it herself but cheated by using ChatGPT!!!….and we’re paying this leech Eur163,000????

Leonard Schembri
Leonard Schembri
11 months ago
Reply to  Toni Borg

What’s worse is that she or someone else never checked it.

D M Briffa
D M Briffa
11 months ago

What leads you to that conclusion? I’m sure they read it and re-read it, marvelling each time at their brilliance.

Michael Borg
11 months ago

Comedians are comedians, some of them write comics!
I wonder if this woman were given a pay rise, would she bother to write her own articles instead of ’employing’ ChatGPT?

Frankly, when I read her article, I was unimpressed with its verbosity.
If this contribution, is her usual offering, no wonder the FMS is in such a state.
She would just about qualify for a post as an entry Govt. clerk.

Insomma kif jghid il-Malti, il-hobz tih lil-min jaf jieklu u mhux lil-xi hadd, li anqas biss jaf xini’ bicca hobz. 

D M Briffa
D M Briffa
11 months ago

A glorious article, Professor Cassar. However, credit is due to Carmen Ciantar for giving you such fabulous material to work with.

Joseph AirAdami
Joseph AirAdami
11 months ago

Kudos to Chat GPT for drumming up high-flowing and inflated English in advertising a rather minor, albeit apparently very necessary, addition to the national health service improvement effort.

This advertisement speaks volumes about the utility and credibility of misplaced use of Artificial Intelligence.

Joe Azzopardi
Joe Azzopardi
11 months ago

I guess the Comedy Knights will be having a field day now that Mix is gone

Carmelina
11 months ago
Reply to  Joe Azzopardi

I hope so

Carmel G Camilleri
Carmel G Camilleri
11 months ago

No wonder this clinic took 13 years 2 Prime Ministers 2 Health Ministers and 3 Gozo Ministers in the making.
For those not in the know it’s locality is in the pollutest spot in Victoria by the bus terminus and 3 car parks

Edward Mallia
Edward Mallia
11 months ago

I must confess that Kevin Cassar’s title led me to believe that he was referring to some writing of Ciantar intended to tear to pieces those deemed responsible for her temporary eclipse of some months ago, people who have never been publicly identified I believe. Having read the article, it is clear that Ciantar was writing an operatic tribute to new Gozo Health Centre and only too obviously to herself and making a complete hash of it. Which seemed strange given her position and the probability that the Minister of Health would have seen the writing before publication. However, the mention of ”blood-letting” as one of the ”advanced procedures” available at the new Health Centre must mean that Fearne did not see the writing before publication. Even so, I find it difficult to believe that Ciantar could be so pig-ignorant of medical matters as to include ”blood-letting” in the Gozo Health Centre repertoire. The Editor’s note at the end of Cassar’s article might provide a ”solution”: what Ciantar probably meant was that the new Health Centre had a blood-testing facility or possibly a blood-donation one. It was the ”AI” that turned that into a ”blood-letting” facility. Even so, Ciantar may have read the final draft and did think that ”blood-letting” was equivalent to ”blood testing”. Either way, the matter has left Carmen Ciantar and Chris Fearne each with a good half-dozen Gozo eggs on their face.

Lawrence Bonello
Lawrence Bonello
11 months ago

So she gets €163,000 and can’t even find time to write this ‘article’ herself. Literally paid for doing NOTHING!

Carmelina
11 months ago

She omitted to highlight that this paragon of seamless care should have opened quite a long time ago, however it has failed one timeframe after another. U ija that is not relevant!!!!

Birchwing Sedoms
Birchwing Sedoms
11 months ago

This article is obviously fully generated by chatgpt. It has all the obvious traits for a human being to easily recognise…long winded introductions, fancy adjectives that add nothing to the topic, short paragraphs with titles and many sentences broken with a semicolon. At least it could have been corrected and improved by a human by she loved the sound of it and thought it will make her look better. Amateurs

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