Stop Steward hospitals concession, Nationalist MP says in parliamentary debate

Shadow health minister Stephen Spiteri has called on the government to stop the Steward public-private partnership, suggesting the contract was devised under suspicious circumstances.

Spiteri latched on to MaltaToday reports detailing spiralling debt incurred by the mysterious company Vitals Global Healthcare, which at the end of 2017 sold its 30-year concession to run three state hospitals to Steward Healthcare, today run by Vitals’ former CEO Armin Ernst.

“Is this a serious way of going about Maltese healthcare… Robert Abela says he wants a stock-take on the situation, but what has been reported so far is enough of a stock-take. Even the health minister himself is concerned about the way this project is taking shape,” Spiteri said.

The VGH concession is now under a pending inquiry by the National Audit Office.

“I ask whether the evaluation board did truly evaluate whether the unknown VGH was the best company to run the hospitals, or whether VGH was just the anointed company.

“There are clear conditions that give the government the right to drop the contract… government either leapt blindly into this contract, or there were ulterior motives, the speculation of which I leave to the members of this House,” Spiteri said.

“I was stunned at the over €30 million in debts raised by VGH without knowing what this money has been spent on. These concerns have been raised by the doctors’ union MAM, which has described the project as a financial flop… I fear that along the way, when the profits don’t materialise, Steward might even start making cost-cutting and bringing in cheaper workers.”