The Paola Health Hub is set to open by the end of this year, five years after it was originally planned to open its doors.
Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela told TVM's Xtra programme that according to a Foundation for Medical Services programme of works, the centre will start providing a service this year.
Up until last month, Abela was unable to say when it would finally start serving patients, in reply to questions by Times of Malta.
The Vincent Moran Health Centre, which is intended to serve around 130,000 people in Malta's south, was originally meant to welcome patients in 2020.
The deadline was pushed back a year after a tender process - initially awarding the project's construction to a consortium named SP BB International JV - was found to have been tainted.
The project was eventually awarded to a consortium called Ergon-Technoline.
However, the government later cancelled its contract with Ergon-Technoline after the consortium failed to provide a series of compliance certificates necessary for the centre's operation, including certificates for lifts, electrical and plumbing works, and health and safety, among others.
Following a court battle, the government took over the hospital in October, but has since been unable to provide a date by when it will start serving patients.
On Monday, Abela explained that the government had cancelled the contract after the contractor failed to keep up with contractual targets. This, he said, was something that the government and the Opposition had agreed on.
Subsequently, the government - through FMS - dealt with subcontractors who had already worked on the project and drafted a programme of works.
PN spokesperson for health Adrian Delia agreed with Abela that, faced with the same situation, he would have also cancelled the contract.
However, the halting of the contract was followed by inconsistent information about certification of work and deadlines, he said, urging the minister to provide an indicative date of when the hub will be up and running.
Delia also urged the government to sit down with the Opposition and come up with a plan for health and care services for the next 20 years to ensure continuity in the provision of the service not just whenever there is a change of minister, but also any change in government.
He also urged the minister to look into ways of preventing disease, such as providing tailor-made nutrition plans to children based on personalised tests. Adapting one's lifestyle to one's particular needs could help prevent disease as one grows older, he added.
Fielding questions by Xtra's Saviour Balzan, Abela meanwhile noted that although the past winter was not a harsh one, Mater Dei's emergency department and wards had kept up with the demand.
There was not one patient who was treated in a corridor this winter, the minister added.
He also reassured those who tuned in to follow the programme that all those aged 18 and under who have diabetes type one will be provided with insulin pumps this year.