Health workers representatives welcome Auditor General’s full probe of hospital contracts

The Medical Association of Malta and the Union Haddiema Maghqudin have welcomed the government’s decision to submit the hospital privatisation contracts in full to the Auditor General, noting that the change of heart came a week after “apparent resistance” from government MPs during a committee meeting last week.

“Common sense prevailed,” the unions said.

The Public Accounts Committee last night agreed to discuss the 30-year concession granted to Vitals Global Healthcare once the contracts are evaluated by the National Audit Office.

The unions have called for a probe before they could commit themselves to the venture when representing the interests of its members. “The unions will follow this process closely and re-iterate that they can only collaborate with this project once this process is concluded to their satisfaction,” they said.

But the unions also expressed “surprise” over the Prime Minister’s description of the Gozo General Hospital as “a glorified health centre”.

“Such statements are misleading to the general public, cause concern to potential patients and demotivate the professional staff that strive to provide a high standard of care at Gozo General Hospital,” they insisted.

In their statement, the unions continued to list the public investment carried out at the Gozo hospital: “Gozo General Hospital has fully equipped operating theatres that were recently refurbished using EU funds and major operations are performed by surgeons working full time in Gozo, and visiting surgeons from  Malta. There are also fully equipped s coronary and intensive care units. Highly complex medical cases are handled in Gozo, and  patients are only rarely transferred to Malta.”

At the same time, the unions claimed there was “little, if any, change”  since Vitals Global Healthcare took over the management of the hospital.