Mater Dei report heeded but ‘cannot be published’

A report on Mater Dei Hospital drawn up by a renowned American institute is contractually bound to remain an internal document, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia insists.

The Johns Hopkins report that cost the country more than €1 million was completed in 2012 and never published. Excerpts were revealed in The Sunday Times of Malta this week.

“The easiest thing for me to do as health minister is to publish the report because, after all, it shows the legacy I inherited,” Dr Farrugia said yesterday, adding that, for correctness’ sake, he stuck to the agreement made by his predecessor.

He explained the report’s release would depend on mutual agreement with Johns Hopkins and he did not have their consent.

Its authors stipulated that it was intended for use within the Health Ministry and releasing it to the press would constitute a breach of contract.

The Johns Hopkins report gave a detailed assessment of Mater Dei’s clinical and administrative problems and proposed a way forward.

In many ways, it reached the same conclusions as former European commissioner John Dalli in yet another report on the hospital last year.

Dr Farrugia was unfazed by criticism that the government did not need the Dalli report when it already had a more comprehensive review.

“Dalli’s report is subjective, his own... it was done by a Maltese individual who has experience as European health commissioner and was also finance and health minister,” Dr Farrugia said.

He insisted that, on taking office, certain aspects of the Johns Hopkins report started being implemented even while the Dalli review was underway.

“I did not leave the Johns Hopkins report dormant.”

Dr Farrugia said that, as a result of the recommendations in the report, clinical workshops were set up at the accident and emergency department that drew up a plan with timelines for change. He defended his actions by saying the Health Act approved by Parliament ensured politicians remained away from the operational aspects by drawing boundaries between strategy and operational matters.

“This was recommended by Johns Hopkins but I also drew up costings for every service offered at Mater Dei, which was another proposal, and set up workshops to tackle waiting times for operations,” he said.

Dr Farrugia said some waiting lists had experienced positive change last year despite the money for public-private initiatives – through which people on waiting lists were operated upon in the private sector with the cost being borne by the government – having already been spent in the run up to the election.