Long-awaited Paola health hub opens doors to patients

A long-delayed health hub in Paola has opened to patients, the Health Ministry announced Monday.

In a statement, the ministry said the Ċensu Moran Centre welcomed its first 50 patients for out-patient clinic services.

Speech and language pathology and gynecology services are available at launch, with physiotherapy, orthopaedics, manometry, podiatry, gastroenterology and respiratory medicine due to be on offer later this month, the ministry said.

A portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, which the ministry said had already served over 1,000 patients, will continue to be in use at the centre.

The opening appears to mark the end of a years-long saga which saw the health centre beset by delays and spiralling costs.

In December, it emerged that the hub, which was originally slated to be completed in 2020, had set the government back by a further €1.8m in costs to contractors Ergon-Technoline consortium.

The project was first given the go-ahead back in 2017, but the process came to a grinding halt when the tender process for construction works was found to have been tainted.

In late 2018, the government agreed a €22m deal for the consortium to build the health centre, which was set to be completed in a little over two years.

But in September, health authorities scrapped an agreement with the consortium, saying a series of missed deadlines had meant that it was unable to open to the public.

Photo: DOI/Pierre Sammut.

Photo: DOI/Pierre Sammut.

Although works to the centre were reportedly completed, the contractors had failed to issue a series of compliance certificates, preventing the government from signing off on the building, authorities said.

The delays and missed deadlines also meant that the consortium had been slapped with daily fines totalling some €2 million.

The consortium took exception to the government’s decision to scrap the deal, filing arbitration proceedings in front of the dispute adjudication board at the International Chamber of Commerce.

The arbitration board eventually ruled the government must pay the Ergon-Technoline consortium €1.8m in costs.

Speaking at the opening, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela called it an “important step for health in our country, as we are seeing what we promised begin to translate into results in favour of the patient”.