PN accuses minister of mocking Gozitans with ‘phantom hospital project’

The Health Minister is mocking Gozitans when saying the first phase of a new Gozo hospital will be ready in five months’ time, the Nationalist Party said.

Nationalist MPs Adrian Delia and Alex Borg said the Planning Authority had no application for a Gozo hospital before it. Government procurement systems also showed no signs of tendering or project management initiatives, they added.

“It seems like a phantom project,” the MPs said, adding the “amateurish and mediocre” manner by which the hospital project is being announced is “disrespectful” to Gozitans.

“It also clearly shows that this is nothing but smoke and mirrors, which bodes ill for everyone,” the MPs said.

They were reacting to the announcement made by Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela this week that the first phase of the Gozo hospital would be completed by the first quarter of 2025. The first phase includes the relocation of elderly patients out of the geriatric ward and the completion of geological testing of the site where a 400-bed acute general hospital will be built.

Abela also said a call will be issued shortly for the rental of a building for relocation of the existing hospital’s administration.

A new Gozo hospital was one of the contractual obligations in the hospitals concession agreement concluded with Vitals, and later Steward Health Care. It never materialised and the contract was subsequently cancelled by the court. Several people, including former prime minister Joseph Muscat, and companies are currently facing corruption charges over the Vitals concession.

The Opposition MPs said the hospital project should have started long ago and cast doubt on the Health Minister’s commitment.

“How can the government be trusted to complete the first phase in five months when we do not even know how many phases there are, or how long each phase is meant to take? The first phase of how many?”

Delia and Borg described the minister’s announcement as “a cosmetic exercise”. “The government has already deceived Gozitans once; we hope the latest pledge will not lead to another delusion,” they added.