Excessive costs of Mater Dei 
On 1 May 2007 on Bondi+, I expressed my concern about the enormous costs incurred by the Maltese taxpayer to build and furnish Mater Dei. These costs have now been defined to be in the region of Lm 250 million Maltese liri.
I compared the cost of building Mater Dei in Malta with the cost of building a practically identical hospital abroad – the New Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.
I stated that the new Royal Infirmary Hospital was built and fully furnished with all the necessary medical equipment including 25 operating theatres and the same number of beds as Mater Dei at a cost of Lm 125 million Maltese liri.
I can confirm that my statement was correct. The owner builders of the New Royal Infirmary are the Morrison Building Consortium and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The owners of the New Royal Infirmary have leased the hospital to the NHS, getting a good return on their investment; and unfortunately, the presenter of the programme, Lou Bondi used this to fudge the issue.
The issue is not the cost of leasing – the issue is how much it costs to build and furnish a hospital to the same standard as Mater Dei. Why should Mater Dei cost double the amount it cost for an identical hospital built in the UK?
The Maltese people who are ultimately paying for the cost of Mater Dei have to judge for themselves.

Dr Frank Portelli MD FRCS(Ed)
Director, St Philip’s Hospital