PN makes last ditch appeal to all MPs: 'Do your duty and vote against the Vitals deal'

PN deputy leader David Agius has made a public plea to all MPs to support the Opposition's motion for the cancellation of the Vitals/Steward hospitals deal in parliament tomorrow, appealing to MPs to “respect their oath”.

In a press conference held this afternoon, Agius contrasted how the government was on the one hand, trying to shore up a lucrative contract for the private sector whilst other healthcare professionals were struggling to meet demands with limited means.

The €260 million deal was supposed to encourage medical tourism, he said, “but we ended up with an emergency hospital in shipping containers.”

He was referring to the prefabricated hospital for ITU beds the government is procuring to scale up its preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic.

The millions wasted could have been used for a second interconnector with Sicily, traffic-easing measures, to assist the elderly or to provide financial help to those who ended up jobless in the coronavirus crisis, Agius said.

The deal with Vitals was designed to fail, he said. “So far we gave them €250 million for three hospitals and they gave us nothing in return. We are paying them €180,000 every day for nothing.”

Since being transferred to the private sector, St Luke’s Hospital had been left derelict despite having a potential for 800 beds. Karin Grech hospital and the Gozo General hospital had also been neglected, he said.

The PN will ask parliament to cancel the hospitals contract and have the three buildings returned back to the public.

The courts had already decided there was enough evidence to launch a criminal investigation into the deal, Agius said.

The persons who had been chosen to adjudicate the hospitals concession tender included a director of Nexia BT, which always appears in dirty deals, said shadow finance minister Mario de Marco. He also had harsh words for former parliamentarians Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi, Chris Cardona and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, whom he held primarily responsible for the debacle.

“Minister Scicluna, as the man responsible for public procurement and public funds, is answerable. He failed to do his duty before the tender, because of the secret memorandum of understanding that had been signed with Vitals, during the tender because the contractor had no experience and after it was awarded as the contractor was not being supervised. Tomorrow is the last opportunity for him to clear his name," de Marco said. 

Chris Said also urged Gozitan MPs to vote against the deal, pointing out that Gozo had lost its only hospital to the deal. If all MPs vote against the deal, they are voting in favour of the Maltese people, he said.