Selmun Palace to become 'National Health Village', if PN wins election

Selmun Palace will be transformed into a 'National Health Village' if the PN wins the general election, Alex Borg announced on Friday. 

Under the PN’s plan, the centre would focus on preventing conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and mental health problems, while also serving as a 60-bed rehabilitation centre.

The party spoke of a wellness ecosystem, which will include a restored Fort Campbell, also in Mellieħa and free physical and mental health checks for workers.

At a news conference outside the abandoned 18th-century Selmun Palace, the Nationalist Party leader said the Mellieħa site had been chosen because it lies in one of Malta’s most scenic areas.

“The environment around us is one of the ways we want to address mental health challenges," Borg said. "You cannot create a place like this in a city, because you would not be making the best use of its surroundings.

“We wanted to choose a location that compliments the philosophy behind this centre”. 

Borg has spent the first week of the general election campaign focusing heavily on health, pledging new hospitals and criticising the Labour administration’s record, including its botched plans to regenerate St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals. 

Mellieħa is the northernmost town of Malta. It is roughly an hour’s drive from Birzebuġġa on the south coast. 

Asked whether the village should be in a more central location, Borg pointed to his party’s plan of expanding the Paola Health Hub into a fully-fledged general hospital. 

“When it comes to acute treatment, we are making sure all of Malta will be covered”, he said.

On Friday, Borg announced that all workers would be eligible for physical and mental health screening at the health village.

Selmun Palace has been abandoned for years. The former national airline, Air Malta, closed the Selmun Palace Hotel, which included the palace, and subsequently sold it to the government in 2011.

Both the palace and the hotel would be utilised as part of the health village, Borg said.

The PN plans to work on the project alongside NGOs and government entities to convert the protected site into a centre, with the project expected to be ready by the end of the next legislature.

Borg was speaking alongside PN candidate Ray Gatt, who has been a regular feature of the PN’s health-related press events. 

Gatt said the 60 beds used for the site will treat under-60s patients rehabilitating from short-term issues such as fractures. 

PN candidate Norma Camilleri also spoke at the press event. She said prevention is the first line of defence in favour of a healthy life. 

The 18th-century Selmun palace was built with funds from a Knights of St. John charity, which provided funds to ransom Christian slaves from Ottoman corsairs.

It was used by the British as a naval hospital and controversially repurposed in the 1970s as the Selmun Palace Hotel, operated by Air Malta. 

The palace was awarded Grade 1-listed status in 2012.

A tender for the restoration of the building was lodged in late 2023 but was cancelled. The tender was to cover the restoration of the building’s walls, roof, lighting and water catchment facilities at a cost of €575,255, according to tender documentation.

On Friday, Borg said his government would also restore Fort Campbell and ensure that it is converted into an open space and visitors' centre. A PN government would also clearly mark trail paths in the area, he said.