Updated 4.15pm with more details

A clinic that carries out IVF procedures at Mater Dei will be closed for six months while it is being expanded and upgraded, with patients sent to a private clinic instead.

On Monday Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela detailed plans to pause services at the clinic and instead temporarily outsource the fertility procedures to the private sector as he responded to criticism from the Medical Association of Malta.

MAM, which represents doctors, last week filed a judicial protest to stop the government from outsourcing IVF procedures to the private sector. 

It claimed it violates an agreement it had with the government for “meaningful” consultation with the association prior to forging ahead with any planned privatisation of services offered under the national health service. 

Last month the government announced a €6 million investment that would see around 700 couples on the waiting list for IVF treatments treated in a private clinic. 

On Monday, the Minister of Health said the Mater Dei clinic would be closed for six months. During that interim period, the clinic plans to expand, renovate, and ensure that it is fully equipped with the necessary technology. 

"For six months the services of IVF will be provided in the community, in the private sector until we restore the services at the hospital, Mater Dei," he said.

But before that can happen, the health authorities must secure the procurement of the equipment that would replace the existing one that was purchased in 2014 - when the clinic was first started operating. 

“We don’t want the government service to be second best,” the minister said.

Tendering process stalled

Abela said that for the last two years government had been trying to get the ball rolling to expand Mater Dei’s ART clinic. Two tenders were issued for the provision of the equipment. However, the process was stalled by complaints from the non-winning bidders. 

The minster said that government could no longer wait as “time is of the essence” for couples who wanted to become parents. 

He had asked clinicians at the Mater Dei ART clinic  - who were the ones who best understood the needs of the hospital and its patients - to draw up a list of what they need and provide “robust justification” for their requests. Their list would be passed on to the Department of Contracts.

Once a go-ahead was obtained from the department – which meant the government could start the procurement process of the equipment listed by the clinicians – the infrastructure expansion of the unit could begin. 

This would take about six months – during which time the clinic would have to shut down. 

This was why, he elaborated, government had allocated €6million so that around 650 couples, who are on the Mater Dei waiting list, could get their treatment in the private clinic: Hope Fertility and IVF clinic.

“Do you think the government will leave these vulnerable people without treatment? No.” he continued, “I would like to reassure the people who would be receiving this service that me and the government I represent, on this matter we will be your shield,”

He insisted that he had discussed his plans with MAM and other unions on multiple occasions. 

“This is not a case of lack of transparency," he said.

“When it came to announcing the expansion of Mater Dei, not only did I discuss my presentation with them and every employee of Mater Dei…But before I went to cabinet, I discussed all of these things with those I believed I needed to discuss them with."

MAM previously said that it does not have an issue using the private sector if it means cutting waiting lists, including for IVF, but that this should not be done at the expense of ignoring obligations.

Infertility treatments such as IVF are currently carried out at the ART clinic in Mater Dei.