Muscat pitches best healthcare, improved quality of living in Gozo

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat  says that the government's ambitious project will see Gozo's 'third-class' healthcare facilities become the best in the Mediterranean

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has said that in just three weeks since applications for Bart's medical school in Gozo opened, over 1,000 students had applied. He said that this filled the government with optimism and showed that the government's ambitious plan to turn Gozo into a medical centre of excellence will succeed. 

Muscat, speaking at a political activity in Xaghra, Gozo, said one would not be at fault for thinking that the Gozo General Hospital was built to serve second-class citizens, given the state it had been allowed to fall into.

He criticised previous administrations for shying away from taking decisions to improve the situation in Gozo, adding that the hospital was being kept alive by the people working there. He said that ultimately however, it remains one were any serious condition needs to be handled in Malta. Muscat said that in just four years, the government will have turned the hospital from a "third-class" facility to a world-class facility offering the one of the best levels of healthcare in the Mediterranean. 

The combined effect of having world-class facilities, as well as a medical school in Gozo, will give new impetus to the island's economy, especially during the winter months when tourism is at its lowest, said Muscat.

"We are doing what all the governments before us had said that they would do. There were many reports that spoke of healthcare and education in Gozo, but unfortunately they were all shelved and nothing was done about them. Through our ambitious plan we will be guaranteeing places of work for people in Gozo for the next 50 years," said Muscat. 

Speaking before the PM, health minister Chris Fearne said that the Opposition was doing everything it could to try and cast doubts over the government's plan. He said that the Opposition had said that the plan would result in healthcare no longer being free, and that people would be losing their jobs as a result of the plan. When those claims had been shown to be completely false, he said that the Opposition said that no students would want to study in Gozo when they could go elsewhere. The fact that 1,090 applications had been received in just three weeks, he said, shows that this is not the case and that the project is well thought out, and will help revive the Gozitan economy. 

Turning to the current debate over the hospital privatisation contracts, Fearne said that the government had nothing to hide and would be happy to discuss the contracts in any committee the Opposition wished to discuss them in. 

Muscat said that he could not understand how the Opposition was trying to cast doubt on the hospitals contracts simply because some parts of the contracts had not been published. 

"We published the contracts and we were then criticised for not publishing some pages. Once again I will tell you, that till today, as the Prime Minister, I have no right to publish the Maltco contract, even once the contract has ended. The same goes for parts the Liquigas contract and the MIA contract," said Muscat. 

Like Fearne, Muscat said that the government is more than happy to discuss the contracts because they are contracts that "do the country proud", adding that the government is not ashamed of the fact that it wants to give Gozo better healthcare and a better economy. He said that cardiologist and former Nationalist MP Albert Fenech had decided to join the consortium running the hospitals and even he had said in a recent interview that had there been any sign of corruption in the project, he would not have joined the team.

The Prime Minister said that it would have been easy for the government to sit back and make a few cosmetic changes but it had decided to pursue an ambitious project that would change Gozo's economy is a very substantial way.

On energy, Muscat said that this week's OPEC meeting - an intergovernmental organisation of countries that together make up an estimated 43% of global oil production, and a major influence over global oil prices - had shown that the government's plan for the energy sector would be protecting Malta from fluctuations in the global price of oil. 

"These countries answer to nobody. They released a statement saying that as of the 1 January they will be reducing output by 3%. In a day this caused the price of oil to increase by 9%. Had we kept the system that those before us wanted, I would be here telling you all that as of next month, we will need to increase electricity tariffs. I have always stressed that this is not an issue that can be judged over a span of weeks. This is something that needs to be evaluated over longer periods," said Muscat. 

Muscat said that stability in electricity prices was key and that the government's next step is achieving stability in the price of fuel. He said that this would inevitably be increasing all across the globe but the government, through the work of Konrad Mizzi and Enemed is working to ensure stability in this area as well. 

In his address, the Prime Minister also touched upon this week's ruling by the Speaker of the House, that found Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi in breach of parliamentary privilege, and the opposition's subsequent motion asking for the retraction of the speaker's ruling. 

"We can't have a situation where the second an institution does not favour the Opposition, it is attacked. The government does not always agree with what the institutions are saying but we always accept their decision," said Muscat. 

According to Muscat there is a clear trend, where the Opposition attacks institutions when decisions go against it, and this shows that the Opposition has no arguments to make.

"They are going round in circles and trying to be disruptive, but the nation knows better than that. People decide in their homes and places of work and the people know that despite not being perfect, this government is one that is working hard," concluded Muscat.