The Opposition will be filing a parliamentary motion concerning a controversial hospital privatisation agreement, party leader Adrian Delia said on Monday.

Addressing a news conference at the party headquarters in Pieta', Nationalist leader Adrian Delia did not divulge the details of the motion, though he has been long calling on the government to rescind it.

“This motion is aimed to verify whether MPs will defend the people or take the side of the crooks behind this deal,” Delia said. 

The Opposition leader reiterated that under this concession taxpayers had forked out €250 million to Vitals Global Healthcare and subsequently Steward Healthcare.

Under this 30-year agreement signed in 2016, Vitals was handed over three State hospitals – Gozo, Karin Grech and St Luke’s – and was contractually bound to modernise these facilities and increase the number of beds by around 900.

However, none of this investment materialised and in 2018 Vitals transferred its concession to Steward. According to the latest audited accounts for 2017, Steward had accumulated millions in debt.

Delia also lashed out at Prime Minister Robert Abela, saying a clause signed last year meant that the government would have to pay a €100 million fine if it terminated the deal.

“This was signed by Abela himself who at the time was the prime minister’s legal consultant,” the Opposition leader said.

MPs Karol Aquilina and Stephen Spiteri, who also spoke at the press conference, said the government was throwing money down the drain while incurring additional expenses to make arrangements to increase the number of beds due to COVID-19.