Updated 1pm with PN, government

The Gozo General Hospital has seen drops in its capital expenditure according to figures published in the budget plans for 2025.

It will have €6 million less to spend on infrastructural works, with its allocated capital expenditure cut by two-thirds, from €9 million this year to just €3 million next.

The data for the health ministry also indicates that some €34 million have been allocated to the hospital’s running costs throughout 2025, almost €9 million less than the expenditure approved for this year.

Budget financial estimates for the health ministry suggest that the Gozo hospital will have to make do with a thinner chequebook next year, with its overall budget dropping from almost €52million to a little over €37million. 

However,  that shortfall may be partly due to the separate allocation of €14.8 million to Malta Health Limited, a state company created to absorb Steward Healthcare workers - in both Malta and Gozo - onto the state payroll.

The hospital has courted controversy in recent years, finding itself embroiled in the scrapped concession agreement awarded to Vitals back in 2016 and later transferred to Steward Health Care.

The hospital eventually found itself back under government control after the court scrapped the concession last year. It has since been earmarked for extensive regeneration, with health minister Jo Etienne Abela promising that works would be completed within five to seven years.

Karin Grech Hospital, the second hospital embroiled in the Vitals affair, fared better, with last year’s €45m budget now rising to €49m. This despite plans to run down the hospital’s operations and eventually use it to accommodate outpatient and day care services.

Health ministry gets largest bump

The health ministry was one of the ministries that received the largest bump during Monday’s budget, finding itself with an extra €118m to spend next year.

But this includes some €310m that will go towards active ageing initiatives, which were not part of its portfolio until a cabinet reshuffle at the beginning of this year.

The health ministry says it wants to spend this windfall on cutting down on waiting lists with the help of the private sector, upping its spend on this plan from €5m to €14m, spending more on salaries and staff costs (some €52m more than this year) and investing more in residential care for the elderly in their private homes (€10m more than 2024).

But it is also making some cuts. Funding for IVF programmes will receive €3m less next year, dropping from €7m to €4m, although the Embryo Protection Authority will get a €130,000 increase.

Meanwhile, the allocation for the Paola health hub has dropped by more than half, now that works on the health centre have been completed (although it has yet to open its doors).

‘We shall deliver what we promised’

When approached for comment, the health minister said that, despite the cuts, “there are several other line items that benefit the Gozo hospital, from new technologies to active ageing and outsourcing of services”.

“During the year, we adapt, devise, divert and re-allocate funds continuously as needed,” Abela said, promising that the ministry “shall deliver what we promised”.

Pointing to the “record” €1.5bn outlay on healthcare, Abela said the ministry “shall use the money well and Gozo will continue to benefit as per our strategy”.

Gozo hospital budget increased ‘by €7m’: health ministry

In a statement published on Monday, the health ministry said that the Gozo hospital’s budget had “increased by at least €7m”, along with an 11% increase in the healthcare sector’s overall budget.

The ministry said that the Gozo hospital would benefit from two new line items, namely some €6.7m from Malta Health Limited and part of the €14m allocated towards working with private healthcare providers to slash waiting lists.

The hospital will also benefit from EU funds that do not appear in the health ministry’s budget, the ministry said.

These include part of a €59m allocation for the purchase of equipment and a slice of another €25m allocation for IT systems.

When it comes to the hospital’s capital expenditure the ministry said that renovation plans “span several years”, so the figures that appear in the budget are “what is allocated for the first year, which will be supplemented each subsequent year in the respective vote”.

‘This is management by crisis’: PN

Meanwhile, PN health spokesperson Adrian Delia and Gozo spokesperson Alex Borg slammed what they described as the “management by crisis” in Gozo’s healthcare services during a press conference held on Wednesday. 

Delia argued that despite Abela having promised to complete the first phase of the new Gozo hospital during the first quarter of 2025, there is no sign of any progress on the project.

“We know that this deadline is impossible,” Delia said, pointing to how no planning applications or procurement procedures for the project have begun. “Not only that, the budget now shows that there was a reduction in capital expenditure,” he added.

Meanwhile, Borg said that the budget shows that Gozo is “a secondary priority for this government,” describing it as “one of the worst budgets for Gozo that I have seen since I joined parliament”.

“Capital investment for Gozo was cut once again, this time by €4.75m, even though our roads and infrastructure are in a disastrous state”. 

Clarification: This article has been amended to include an allocation of €14.8 million to Malta Health Limited, which may partly account for the shortfall in recurrent expenditure.