Gozo Business Chamber president: ‘What has happened to promised hospital?’

Gozo business chief Joseph Borg has expressed frustration that a promised new hospital has not materialised and warned this could negatively impact the Barts Medical School.

“What has happened over the past four years? If something has happened, I am not aware of it,” he said when addressing the annual general meeting of the Gozo Business Chamber that was held at the Queen Mary University Malta Campus, better known as Barts Medical School.

As part of the hospitals concession agreement between the government and Steward Healthcare, the private company was obliged to build a new state-of-the-art general hospital in Gozo. The agreement saw three public hospitals – Gozo General, St Luke’s and Karen Grech – being transferred to Steward.

But despite finishing the works on the Barts Medical School, the hospital remains elusive.

Borg, who heads the GBC, warned that the medical school’s success could be lost if the pledged new hospital is not built.

“But it’s not just the Barts school that needs this hospital but the Gozitan community and the whole country,” Borg said. “I do not want to whine but Gozitans deserve a better medical service.”

Next week, a judge is expected to rule whether the hospitals concession deal should be rescinded. The case was instituted by Nationalist MP Adrian Delia, who has alleged that the hospitals tender was vitiated by corruption.

Borg noted that a portion of the funds from the Recovery and Resilience Fund were dedicated to the digitalisation of medical records, something that had started at Mater Dei Hospital. “Given that in Gozo the hospital is privatised, will Gozitan records also be digitised? I have not received any reply yet,” Borg said.