Updated 7.21pm with comments at the audit committee meeting.
The Nationalist Party has criticised the government for proposing to ease contract conditions for the operators of the animal hospital in Ta'Qali, saying this would be a retrograde step for animal welfare.
In a statement, the party observed that a new version of the contract originally signed in 2016 was pending before the audit committee of the House of Representatives and it would remove some services or benefits currently given to animal welfare NGOs and the Animal Welfare Directorate.
Among others, the operators would no longer be obliged to give a 25% discount for neutering services by the NGOs and services and medicines may no longer be offered free or at cost price for the treatment of animals cared for by the directorate.
For some reason, the new contract was also removing a clause which laid down that the Ta'Qali facility was to be used 'exclusively' as a veterinary hospital, that it should be equipped with the most modern equipment, and that it should abide by European standards and obligations for veterinary hospitals, the PN said.
Gone too was the obligation for the facility to engage veterinary specialists.
The PN urged the government to rethink the contract and provide for more services, rather than a reduction.
Contract reviewed 'to ensure financial viability' - discount for neutering reinstated
The proposed renewed contract was debated by the audit committee on Tuesday evening, where Anton Refalo, the Minister for Agriculture and Animal Welfare, and Alicia Bugeja Said, parliamentary secretary for animal welfare, said the contract changes were aimed at ensuring that Malta’s only veterinary hospital remained financially viable.
Labour MP Glen Bedingfield said it made no sense to require the facility to have the latest equipment. What if new equipment was developed every year, how could the facility keep up?
PN MPs said the removal of the discount on neutering services would lead to a higher number of stray dogs.
Refalo then announced that the discount for neutering services would be retained.
Janice Chetcuti (PN) complained that the operator was previously obliged to provide a free or cost-price service for some 2000 animals cared for by the Animal Welfare Directorate but this was being removed.
Refalo said operations had become more sophisticated and far more expensive. He observed that the first half hour of consultation would remain free. The government was prepared to reconsider this issue, he said, but it also needed to be ensured that financial viability was maintained because the country could not come to a situation where the only veterinary hospital where animals could be kept overnight was closed down.
The committee agreed that the debate would be suspended for further consultations.