A four-year inquiry into the hospitals privatisation scandal holds the entire political class responsible for their actions, doctors’ union chief Martin Balzan said on Saturday.
Speaking during an interview on RTK, Balzan likened the inquiry to the nationwide mani pulite (clean hands) investigations in Italy that rocked the political establishment in the 1990s.
Balzan said the inquiry ensured that those who had a duty to act and put a stop to the contracts were also held accountable.
The Medical Association of Malta president said his union had smelt something fishy about the deal from day one.
Ex-Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, ex-Health Minister Konrad Mizzi and three senior civil servants are among those charged in connection with the “fraudulent” hospitals privatisation deal, which was rescinded by a civil court last year.
Lack of investment in healthcare
Balzan complained how as a result of the failed deal, barely any new medical facilities had been built, with the sole exception being the new Paola medical centre.
Vitals Global Healthcare, and later Steward Health Care, were meant to invest €200 million in revamping the Gozo, Karin Grech and St Luke’s hospitals.
Balzan said he had similar misgivings about Steward, and had received warnings from a union in the US about the American healthcare company.
Steward took over the running of the three hospitals in 2018, before a civil court put a halt to the deal last year on fraud grounds.
The company is now undergoing bankruptcy proceedings in the US.
Balzan said the government and Vitals even had the audacity to put down their bad intentions in writing, when they signed a pre-tender deal that the Auditor General said was evidence of collusion.
The MAM president said that until this very day, the government still fails to consult it on key decisions.
This week, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela announced plans to increase bed capacity at Mater Dei and slash waiting times within the Emergency Department.
While declaring that Abela has "good intentions," Balzan slammed plans to split certain hospital services between Mater Dei and St Luke's.
Balzan warned that having split sites is not safe from a medical perspective, as it takes doctors time to commute from one site to another.
He also questioned whether Mater Dei has the physical capacity to integrate psychiatric patients into the hospital, many of whom need care in a specialised ward that is segregated from other patients.