Opposition leader visits St James Hospital

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil this morning toured St James Hospital in Sliema during which he hailed the hospital’s leadership “an inspiration” to the private sector.

“It’s impressive what you have succeeded to do and it should be an inspiration to the private sector,” Busuttil told hospital director Maria Bugeja.

The PN leader said the private sector had an important role to play in the country’s health system. He said, the Nationalist administration always placed health on top of the country’s agenda and the party was proud of what it had achieved.

“We want the government to continue building on the good that was done and we are thus giving our support, as a party in the Opposition,” Busuttil said.

Full support for agreement with private hospitals on MRI scans for #MaltaAhjar. @JosephMuscat_JM rebuilding what he discarded this past year

— Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) April 25, 2014

He added that the Opposition strived to seek consensus as much as possible. “But consensus does not mean we don’t criticise the government. We have been proactive and, through our health shadow minister, we now have a parliamentary committee to scrutinise the health sector.”

Busuttil however criticised government’s decision to stop sourcing out cataract operations, adding that the waiting list had now intensified.

Although he welcomed the agreement struck between the government and private hospitals to source out MRI scans, Busuttil said this should have been done before saving patients months of waiting time.

On her part, Maria Bugeja said it was important that the private and public health sectors collaborated together.