Leisure has long since become a very rare commodity for the inhabitants of this paradise island where nearly 800 000 foreigners land every year for unforgettable holidays.

Mauritians, ?an admirable people?, have achieved in less than 20 years what Europeans and Americans took centuries to achieve. From an agricultural economy, the island started to trek along the industrialised path in the 70s and, in the late 80s, sugar was no longer the number one foreign currency earner though production and price remained stable during these years.

The Export Processing Zone and the tourist industry took over, relegating sugar to the third position. Mauritians started to work long hours with compulsory overtime. Normal working hours in the EPZ have for a long time been from 8 a.m to 9 p.m. Paying lip service to the population recently at Grand-Bassin, some government members talked about the Mauritians? ?sacrifice?.

But who has really fathomed this sacrifice. If, in the past, slaves and then indentured labourers gave their sweat and blood to develop this island and enrich a few, today the labour force is paying with their lives for the high cost of development.

Is it a mere coincidence if the suicide rate shot up from 1.7% for every 100 000 deaths in 1970 to 15% for every 100 000 deaths in 1986. The World Health Organisation considers the Mauritian suicide rate as one of the highest in the world.

Mauritius also has the world record concerning the percentage of diabetics in its population and cardio-vascular disease is rising fast. One out of every three Mauritian adults has heart problems and cardiovascular disease is now hitting the young. Cases of people developing blocked coronary arteries at 30 are becoming more and more common. And all these non-communicable diseases are costing taxpayers a hell of a lot of money.

No one in government has yet realised that two factors have been unfortunately forgotten while we were rushing down the development and industrialisation lane. Leisure and pleasure have been forgotten. Stadiums and swimming pools have been constructed all over the island ? very often to enable it to host international sports events.

Most of them open at a time when most Mauritians are on their way to the office and close well before workers reach home. And, to make things worse, this fast industrialisation has dealt a blow to the extended family. The nuclear family has grown up rapidly in towns and villages and is now being replaced by some unclear type of family. Junk food has taken hold of the new eating habits of workers.

Yet, since the 70s, no government has thought it fit to place pleasure and leisure on their priority list despite the fact that we have a ministry for Leisure.

Each political block is presently pondering on the electoral manifesto that it will sell to the population soon. It would be a surprise if one of the blocks comes to consider leisure, pleasure and sport for the masses as a priority.

Shame. Shame on them for the Mauritian population has always been and still is an ?admirable people?. It is a nation that is easily sensitised and responds very favourably to solutions proposed to curb social evils. It is this facet of its character which has made the economic miracle possible. It is high time government and NGOs started striving for a health miracle.