A moral defeat

Lawrence Gonzi's government is no longer on its honeymoon. It is facing the harsh reality of the inherited inertia of the previous Nationalist governments.

Let us be forthright: the Nationalist Party has been uninterruptedly in government since 1998. Six years are more than enough to be able to design, build and complete an 825-bedded acute hospital.

Let me take a perfect case in point. In 1997 Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that the new Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital would be built in the UK. In January 2002 the last few departments moved from the old N&N to the new Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with over 1,000 beds which was officially opened by the Queen on February 5 this year.

On Monday, November 8, 2004, Dr Gonzi made a ministerial statement in Parliament. A rare event indeed - a luxury to most of us. He tried to lead us to believe that he laboured up the hill carrying his bags to achieve a colossal victory.

From Dr Gonzi's 35-minute speech, we can draw three conclusions:

1. The Tal-Qroqq Hospital is far from being completed. It is worth recalling that the construction agreement between the Foundation for Medical Sciences & Services and Skanska Int. Building Ltd. was signed on September 12, 1995 - over nine years ago!

2. The agreement signed on February 29, 2000 between Skanska Malta JV and the Foundation for Medical Services for the building, finishing and commissioning of the new hospital in Tal-Qroqq at a cost of Lm83 million has been annulled. For the record, that agreement was formulated under the Fenech Adami government in which Dr Gonzi was then Deputy Prime Minister.

3. The most important binding clauses have now been completely ignored. The date of completion has once more been moved, this time from mid-2005 to mid-2007; the target cost of Lm83 million for the construction of the hospital as per the February 2000 agreement has now been revised to Lm139 million; and all penalties on Skanska Malta JV, as per that same agreement, for not completing the hospital by the established dates have been written-off.

The Skanska Malta JV directors must be thanking their lucky stars to deal with an incompetent government that has been lumped with an additional Lm45 million bill to foot. The Nationalist government is expecting everyone to be ecstatic in view of this unprecedented historical achievement.

No Prime Minister! This is an outright fiasco that is a moral defeat for our brave people. This fiasco has been accomplished in a year when your government has asked the people to fork out another three percentage point increase on VAT to sustain the health bill.

The total cost of the finished hospital goes well above the Lm178 million estimate Louis Deguara, the Health Minister, mentioned in February this year. By Dr Deguara's yardstick, the total cost of the Tal-Qroqq Hospital has now gone up to a conservative estimate of Lm216 million when the hospital would still be far from complete.

The motion presented by the opposition intends to condemn the incompetent and inefficient manner in which the Nationalist government has managed the new hospital project and expresses no confidence in the government led by Dr Gonzi.

Dr Farrugia is the Labour Party's spokesman on health issues.