The government has handed €11 million to Vitals Global Healthcare as recurrent costs of St Luke’s, Karen Grech and the Gozo hospitals.

Speaking in Parliament, Health Minister Chris Fearne told Chris Said (PN) contracts between the government and VGH became effective on May 19, 2016, and are subject to a gradual transition period.

Answering a number of other questions by Dr Said, the minister said the 2017 budget for the three hospitals would amount to €278,486,000. This figure did not include expenditure on medicines and consumables.

Dr Fearne further announced that the total number of employees in the health sector amounted to 7,378, of whom 5,751 were professionals.

The minister also said that at the end of October there were 14,000 patients waiting to undergo some sort of operation at Mater Dei Hospital, with 9,000 of them waiting for less than a year.

By way of comparison, he said, in October 2012 there were 23,000 people waiting to undergo an operation.