Health minister Jo Ettienne Abela would not say when a new medical hub for Malta’s south will open, four years after it was meant to welcome patients.

Abela was asked repeatedly on Friday for a timeframe for the opening of the new hub, which is intended to serve around 130,000 people in Malta’s south, but could only state that the small hospital would begin operating “soon.”

In September, Abela attributed the delays in opening the medical hub to the contractors, Ergon-Technoline, who failed to provide a series of compliance certificates necessary for the centre's operation, including certificates for lifts, electrical and plumbing works, health and safety, among others.

Technoline says the equipment was delivered 20 months ago and is now on site, ready to be used. 

The government cancelled its contract with Ergon-Technoline and, following court proceedings, took over the hospital earlier this month.

“We are now in the phase of taking over the hospital, keeping what is good and fixing what is bad and certifying the building for things like electricity and fire (safety),” Abela said.

“This is a process that I cannot say how long it will take,” Abela said.

The Planning Authority approved plans for the Paola medical hub in 2017, with the government stating that the facility would open in 2020.

The deadline was shifted back a year after the tender process – which initially awarded the project’s construction to a consortium going by the name of SP BB International JV – was found to have been tainted.

The project was eventually awarded to a consortium, Ergon-Technoline. One member of this consortium, Technoline, was later identified as a key figure in the Vitals inquiry published earlier this year.

'A small hospital'

On Friday, Abela said the government is doing its utmost to open the medical centre’s doors as quickly as possible.

“You need to appreciate that this is not a clinic with two rooms, the Paola hub is a small hospital,” he said.

The health minister was speaking at Mater Dei Hospital after inaugurating the hospital’s first dedicated stroke ward.

The ward, which was repurposed from a general medical ward, has 25 beds and has a dedicated staff for stroke cases.

Health minister Abela said Malta has around two stroke cases a day.

“With a dedicated team to stroke, outcomes for patients can only improve.”

Abela said that patients can stay for anything between a few days to months to receive treatment in the new stroke ward. Patients rehabilitating from a stroke, however, are typically sent to Karen Grech hospital, which specializes in rehabilitation.

Abela appealed that anyone experiencing the first symptoms of a stroke should immediately seek medical treatment at a hospital.