Speaker’s ruling requested for health committee, not PAC, to scrutinise Vitals deal

Healthcare professionals asked the Public Accounts Committee to investigate the hospitals privatisation deal: but because a request had already been made to the health committee, the government side argued that the matter should be handled by parliament's health committee

The Public Accounts Committee met this evening to discuss a request made by the UHM and the Medical Association of Malta
The Public Accounts Committee met this evening to discuss a request made by the UHM and the Medical Association of Malta

It took the Public Accounts Committee almost two hours to decide what it should do with a request by UHM and the Medical Association of Malta for an investigation into the government contracts signed with Vitals Global Healthcare.

At the end, nothing was decided as the matter was referred to the Speaker of the House after Justice Minister Owen Bonnici insisted that the matter should be referred to the health committee.

PAC chairman Tonio Fenech said he could not accept that a request made to this committee is referred to another one, and proceeded to request a ruling of the Speaker. It is now up to the Speaker whether the unions’ request is to be handled by the PAC or by the health committee.

Fenech argued that the PAC was better placed than the health committee to discuss financial matters.

A request to investigate the contracts had also been raised by PN MP Claudette Buttigieg, who sits on the parliamentary health committee. The request was approved last week, and the committee is now awaiting the matter to be listed on the agenda. As the discussion intensified, Buttigieg said she was prepared to withdraw her request.

At first, the committee couldn’t agree whether the health committee should investigate the matter – having been the committee to first receive a request – or whether PAC should take it on board. The opposition suggested that a joint meeting should be held; the government MPs however reiterated that the matter should be discussed by the health committee.

Requesting permission to intervene, MAM general secretary Balzan said it was requesting the PAC to ask the Auditor General to investigate. “Our concerns focus on the provision of health but, even more, on issues of trade unionism and financial aspects,” he said.

Balzan insisted that the PAC was better equipped than the health committee to discuss financial matters.

PN MP Chris Said said it was evident that the government MPs didn’t want the matter to be heard before the PAC – raising the objections of Labour MP Charles Mangion who said this was not the case.

“There are matters which only the PAC can handle, especially considering that a good part of the contract remained unpublished.  We would have already found a way forward if the government were willing to discuss it,” Said said.

The Gozitan MP said that the government was not giving the matter the due importance – especially when Gozo’s only hospital had been privatized.

“My suggestion is that we invite the health committee to participate in a joint meeting,” Fenech, as chairman of the committee, said.

During the sitting, the Auditor General was asked how long it would take his Office to investigate the matter. The Auditor General said the National Audit Office should continue following procedure, meaning that investigations are carried out one after the other, as they come in. This meant that the NAO had some other four investigations to conclude before the Office could start investigating the VGH contract.

“It has always been the norm for the NAO to carry out investigations in the orders they come in and I don’t want to be the one to break away with tradition,” Charles Deguara said.

The Auditor General said it was “unfair” of the doctors’ union to state that no agreements would be signed pending the investigation.

“I don’t think it’s fair to place the NAO under undue pressure,” Deguara said, to which MAM general secretary Balzan replied that it was not to blackmail anyone but because their first loyalty was towards their members.

In a letter to the chairman of the PAC, the UHM and MAM said that an investigation should be initiated on the contract signed between the government and Vitals Global Healthcare, the new private operators of the St Luke’s, Gozo and Karin Grech hospitals.

In a joint letter sent to the committee, UHM and MAM insisted that no agreements would be negotiated or finalised with Vitals until an investigation is concluded.

They raised questions on VGH’s financial resources and how they’re going to sustain the operations of the hospitals. They insisted that the lack of transparency, lack of responses to questions and so many doubts raised over the contract, it would not be in the interests of the workers if the unions were to sign an agreement.

The unions delved into VGH’s ownership and how it traced back to a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Private investment firm Oxley Capital, and founding partner Mark Pawley, is the ultimate beneficial owner.

The concessionaires today said it was ready to answer any questions which the unions had, pointing out that UHM and MAM had so far refused to attend invitations extended by VGH. It also questioned whether the unions’ request was “politically motivated”.

The unions today said that their relationship was with the government, as the employer of healthcare workers in the public service.