Robert Abela believes there is “absolutely” no link between overcrowding at Mater Dei Hospital’s emergency department and the complete collapse of a government plan to privatise three state hospitals.
That privatisation deal was first envisaged 10 years ago and was intended to get private investors to restore the dilapidated St Luke’s Hospital, improve Karin Grech and Gozo general hospitals and operate all three facilities.
It was definitively annulled last year when a court concluded that the operators – Vitals Global Healthcare and later Steward Health Care - had failed to respect their contractual obligations and that the deal was tainted by fraud. Dozens of people, including former prime minister Joseph Muscat, are facing criminal charges in connection with the deal.
St Luke’s Hospital remains largely unused to this day and the strain on Mater Dei Hospital’s emergency department has forced the government to seal a €14 million deal with three private hospital operators to send Mater Dei patients to them.
Last year, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela acknowledged that Malta “needs a second national hospital” and said the St Luke’s hospital area could serve that function.
'Absolutely no link'
But speaking on Friday, Prime Minister Robert Abela was quick to dismiss any suggestion that the ongoing crisis is linked to the decade-long failure of the Vitals-Steward deal.
“There is absolutely no link,” Abela said when asked if he saw a link between the two.
The prime minister instead focused on an ongoing impasse between the government and doctor’s union MAM which has jeopardised the €14 million plan to outsource emergency department procedures.
Doctors at Mater Dei’s emergency Department have been instructed not to refer any patients to private hospitals, with MAM saying they were not consulted about the plan and that any outsourcing deal requires the union’s approval before it can begin.
The health minister has said union head Martin Balzan is weaponising the issue out of spite, because of personal grudges related to an appointment at Mater Dei which Balzan applied for but failed to secure.
Speaking on Saturday morning on Andrew Azzopardi’s radio show on RTK103, Balzan also cited concerns about a lack of doctors at health centres and vacancy paperwork as key concerns. The union said it intends to introduce additional directives on Wednesday if its concerns are not addressed.
The minister said patients were the losers in all this and that MAM has spent the past week “moving the goalposts”.
“We gave Martin Balzan whatever he wanted. This is not on. I will leave it up to doctors, healthcare workers and sick patients to decide what is right,” Health Minister Abela said.
Speaking on Friday, the prime minister struck a more conciliatory tone.
“I understand MAM’s position, but let’s keep in mind that patients should be the priority,” Robert Abela said. “We have enough medical Infrastructure in the country to end these waiting lists, and with some good sense we can sort problems out with doctors.”