Doctors are worried that a team evaluating a deal which handed three state hospitals to a private operator cannot be objective in their analysis as “they themselves were part of this fiasco”.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the Medical Association of Malta said that it had serious concerns about the evaluation exercise into the Steward Global Healthcare deal which was currently under way.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has said that he has ordered a “full stocktake” into the controversial hospital privatisation deal, which saw St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo General hospitals handed to Vitals Global Healthcare, which in turn sold its concession to US healthcare giants Steward in late 2017.

The assessment is being carried out by civil servants within the Finance and Health ministries, the prime minister told Labour supporters in Qormi.

On Saturday, the MAM said that "too many" of those appointed to evaluate the project had been "closely involved in the original deal agreed by former minister Konrad Mizzi". 

The MAM did not name any of the members it believes cannot objectively assess the deal. 

The Vitals concession deal was signed under Dr Mizzi's watch, in 2016. 

Concerns about the deal have led to political controversy, court cases, magisterial inquiries and a National Audit Office investigation.

On Saturday, Times of Malta revealed that the NAO audit, first requested in 2016, will not be completed until at least the end of the year.

In its statement, the MAM expressed alarm that while it would take the NAO at least four years to evaluate the deal, the committee appointed by the prime minister would be doing so “in a couple of weeks”.

Changes 'require six weeks' notice'

The medical lobby also expressed concern about rumoured talks that are under way for Steward to renegotiate the terms of the hospital privatisation deal, to secure more money.

According to the terms of the original deal, the MAM noted, the government had to give six weeks’ notice before the deal was modified and changes could not go against “the spirit of the agreement”.

“The MAM sees no reason where after receiving millions according to contracts a concessionaire who did not respect the establish deadlines, and clearly provided no new infrastructure for patient care should be requesting more funds and an extension of the deadlines,” it said.

“As this deal has failed and government should stop the haemorrhage of millions of euros and definitely not increase its contribution.”

The MAM said it would explore “any avenue” to prevent that from happening, saying “enough is enough”.