Adrian Delia insists public hospitals should be returned to the public

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has accused the government of doing its utmost to block a case instituted by himself, in which he is asking for the courts to nullify the contract signed between the government and Vitals Global Healthcare for the running of three of Malta’s public hospitals.

The government is doing its utmost to block a case instituted by Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia, asking for the contract signed between the government and Vitals Global Healthcare to be cancelled and the three public hospitals to be returned to the public.

He said the government was trying to hinder the court process and divide the case into different segments “so that it is decided on issues of procedure” without evidence being presented.

Delia was speaking at the PN’s general conference in Gozo, where he stressed that the party would continue to fight to get the hospitals back. He asked where the €50 million given to the company had gone, insisting that all Gozo had gotten from the deal was a “massive hole”.

The PN leader accused the government of taking Gozitans for a ride by announcing that it would be carrying out studies and reports instead of addressing the real problems facing the island.

“I think our message as the PN should be one. No more words, no more rhetoric, no more studies, no more reports, we must start giving solutions now,” Delia said.

He stressed that Gozo was aging because it was losing its younger generations, who needed to travel to Malta to work.

Challenges in the employment sector included a lack of job diversity in Gozo, as well as the fact that government had employed a large number of employees who were previously employed in the private sector. “There are small Gozitan businesses that used employ Gozitan workers that have almost been destroyed.”

He said that past PN governments had invested greatly in Gozo’s infrastructure, and that there was now the need for the PN to bring about investment in the island’s people.

On Gozo’s connectivity, Delia said that while a more permanent link between Malta and Gozo was a must, more solutions needed to be thought of in the short-term. Delia called on those present to be revolutionary in their thinking, and to consider the possibility of connecting Gozo to other countries.

The PN leader also said he had asked Gozitan MP Chris Said to come up with proposals for Gozo to be presented when the parliament discusses constitutional reform.