Pantocratorian Ambara
19-10-2006, 08:03
The Colonial Legislature, Pantocratorian Ambara
"Questions, questions, are there any questions?" asked the Speaker of the Colonial Legislature, himself not a member of the legislature but a judge elected from the bench of the Colonial Court by the members to preside over the house. "The Leader of the Opposition."
Louis-Isaac Fontainbleu, the leader of the Ambaran Christian Democrats, rose to his feet and stood behind the opposition dispatch box. He held a sheet of paper in his hand which he lay out on the box thoughtfully, deliberately taking his time, and slowly reached into his pocket.
"Thankyou, Monsieur l'Orateur. My question is directed to Premier." Fontainbleu began. He produced a pair of spectacles from his pocket. He didn't really need them, although they did help him a little especially in low light, but he thought a pair of reading glasses made him look distinguished, besides which, he relished in the Government's suspense. "I refer the Premier to a memorandum sent to her office, and to the office of the minister responsible, by the Department of Health, dated the twenty seventh of August this year, advising the Premier of an impending crisis in Pantocratorian Ambara's public hospitals, which says, and I quote, that patients of varied ethnic and religious backgrounds are not afforded the same level of care or access to medical treatment in many hospitals, and advises the Premier that urgent action is required to see acceptable management practices implemented across the board in the colony's public hospitals. Premier, why was this memorandum suppressed, not acted upon, not released to the press, and not released to the members of this house?"
Fontainbleu sat down, his front bench all having cryptic looks on their faces. He took off his glasses and looked across the chamber at Bucelli expectantly. Bucelli rose to her feet and stood behind her own dispatch box.
"The Honourable the Premier." the Speaker called.
"Thankyou, Monsieur l'Orateur." the Premier began. "The Leader of the Opposition is desperately digging around here, Monsieur l'Orateur, the memorandum in question was the unsolicited personal opinion of a solitary hospital worker, so he has mislead the house by suggesting that it came from the Department of Health. That implies it came from the Director General or some other official spokesperson. It did not, it came from a lone employee. I directed the Minister for Health to look into the matter, and it is my understanding, which, Monsieur l'Orateur, I have obtained from the Honourable Minister, that official enquiries into the matter undertaken by the Department found the allegations made in the memorandum to be baseless, and to discuss the memorandum in the legislature would only slur the good names of the hardworking men and women in Pantocratorian Ambara's public hospitals, which the Leader of the Opposition, Monsieur l'Orateur, unscrupulous man that he is, feels no compunction about doing, quite obviously."
"Shame!" called a few of the Socialist members. The Leader of the Opposition rose to his feet again.
"The Leader of the Opposition with a supplementary question?" the Speaker confirmed.
"Yes, Monsieur l'Orateur, I have a supplementary question for the Premier, if it please the house." Fontainbleu said. This time the glasses stayed in his pocket. "Monsieur l'Orateur, is the Premier familiar with the case of a Monsieur Xerxes Farmer, an African-Ambaran gentleman, who went to the emergency room at St Louis Hospital, Andrium, arriving at twelve thirty six in the afternoon on the seventeenth of October reporting severe pain on the right-hand side of the abdomen? He was in the emergency room for seven hours, Monsieur l'Orateur, in which time, I am reliably informed by his family, some two dozen white patients who arrived after him were all treated before him by the physicians there. Monsieur l'Orateur, at seven forty two that evening, Monsieur Farmer fell unconscious in the emergency room, still waiting to be seen by a physician, at which time he was finally examined, and it was determined that he had a case of accute appendicitis. I regret to inform the house, Monsieur l'Orateur, that Monsieur Farmer's appendix had already ruptured by this point, and he was in septic shock, from which, Monsieur l'Orateur, Monsieur Farmer died at ten thirty seven the next morning. My question to the Premier, Monsieur l'Orateur, is does she still think that the memorandum was baseless, and would she think it a slur on the good names of the physicians working in that emergency room to call them racists, whose prejudices ran so deep, that they neglected Monsieur Farmer quite deliberately, until his condition became unrecoverable and, tragically, fatal?"
"Questions, questions, are there any questions?" asked the Speaker of the Colonial Legislature, himself not a member of the legislature but a judge elected from the bench of the Colonial Court by the members to preside over the house. "The Leader of the Opposition."
Louis-Isaac Fontainbleu, the leader of the Ambaran Christian Democrats, rose to his feet and stood behind the opposition dispatch box. He held a sheet of paper in his hand which he lay out on the box thoughtfully, deliberately taking his time, and slowly reached into his pocket.
"Thankyou, Monsieur l'Orateur. My question is directed to Premier." Fontainbleu began. He produced a pair of spectacles from his pocket. He didn't really need them, although they did help him a little especially in low light, but he thought a pair of reading glasses made him look distinguished, besides which, he relished in the Government's suspense. "I refer the Premier to a memorandum sent to her office, and to the office of the minister responsible, by the Department of Health, dated the twenty seventh of August this year, advising the Premier of an impending crisis in Pantocratorian Ambara's public hospitals, which says, and I quote, that patients of varied ethnic and religious backgrounds are not afforded the same level of care or access to medical treatment in many hospitals, and advises the Premier that urgent action is required to see acceptable management practices implemented across the board in the colony's public hospitals. Premier, why was this memorandum suppressed, not acted upon, not released to the press, and not released to the members of this house?"
Fontainbleu sat down, his front bench all having cryptic looks on their faces. He took off his glasses and looked across the chamber at Bucelli expectantly. Bucelli rose to her feet and stood behind her own dispatch box.
"The Honourable the Premier." the Speaker called.
"Thankyou, Monsieur l'Orateur." the Premier began. "The Leader of the Opposition is desperately digging around here, Monsieur l'Orateur, the memorandum in question was the unsolicited personal opinion of a solitary hospital worker, so he has mislead the house by suggesting that it came from the Department of Health. That implies it came from the Director General or some other official spokesperson. It did not, it came from a lone employee. I directed the Minister for Health to look into the matter, and it is my understanding, which, Monsieur l'Orateur, I have obtained from the Honourable Minister, that official enquiries into the matter undertaken by the Department found the allegations made in the memorandum to be baseless, and to discuss the memorandum in the legislature would only slur the good names of the hardworking men and women in Pantocratorian Ambara's public hospitals, which the Leader of the Opposition, Monsieur l'Orateur, unscrupulous man that he is, feels no compunction about doing, quite obviously."
"Shame!" called a few of the Socialist members. The Leader of the Opposition rose to his feet again.
"The Leader of the Opposition with a supplementary question?" the Speaker confirmed.
"Yes, Monsieur l'Orateur, I have a supplementary question for the Premier, if it please the house." Fontainbleu said. This time the glasses stayed in his pocket. "Monsieur l'Orateur, is the Premier familiar with the case of a Monsieur Xerxes Farmer, an African-Ambaran gentleman, who went to the emergency room at St Louis Hospital, Andrium, arriving at twelve thirty six in the afternoon on the seventeenth of October reporting severe pain on the right-hand side of the abdomen? He was in the emergency room for seven hours, Monsieur l'Orateur, in which time, I am reliably informed by his family, some two dozen white patients who arrived after him were all treated before him by the physicians there. Monsieur l'Orateur, at seven forty two that evening, Monsieur Farmer fell unconscious in the emergency room, still waiting to be seen by a physician, at which time he was finally examined, and it was determined that he had a case of accute appendicitis. I regret to inform the house, Monsieur l'Orateur, that Monsieur Farmer's appendix had already ruptured by this point, and he was in septic shock, from which, Monsieur l'Orateur, Monsieur Farmer died at ten thirty seven the next morning. My question to the Premier, Monsieur l'Orateur, is does she still think that the memorandum was baseless, and would she think it a slur on the good names of the physicians working in that emergency room to call them racists, whose prejudices ran so deep, that they neglected Monsieur Farmer quite deliberately, until his condition became unrecoverable and, tragically, fatal?"