Minister says new Gozo hospital promise is ‘for real’ this time
Labour had made similar promises in 2017 and 2022
The government will build the Gozo hospital it is now promising, because a master plan is in place, preliminary studies are complete, and the finance minister has given the go-ahead, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela has said.
The Labour Party has yet again pledged a new Gozo hospital in its electoral manifesto. It had made similar promises in 2017 and 2022.
In 2017, Labour had promised to build a new “state-of-the-art” general hospital in Gozo with 350 beds. The party’s 2022 manifesto, Malta Flimkien, said: “The construction of a new general hospital in Gozo will commence on a site nearly double the size of the current footprint. The hospital will accommodate 430 beds, with 200 specifically dedicated to patients receiving acute care.”
Earlier this week, Times of Malta asked Abela why people should believe the government over its Gozo hospital plan this time around when it failed to keep its promise in the last two legislatures.
“This time we have a master plan that is detailed and has been evaluated and tenders for the project will soon be published,” Abela said.
“Moreover, the minister of finance has already allocated €300 million,” he said, in reference to the amount allocated for the Gozo hospital.
Abela added that the Gozo hospital, like St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals, is now in government hands, unlike in the past when Vitals and Steward Health Care had the concession.
A concession given to Vitals/Steward Health Care for a €200 million revamp of the same three hospitals was annulled on fraud grounds in 2023.
In total, the government is planning a €1.5 billion revamp of St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals over 15 years.
The allocated amount for the Gozo hospital in the upcoming legislature, should Labour win the election, is €300 million. In Gozo, the first phase of the project should take five years, with the hospital opening to patients by the end of that period.