[WATCH] PN asks Auditor General to investigate Vitals hospitals transfer

PN asks Auditor General to investigate Vitals hospitals transfer

The Nationalist parliamentary opposition has written to the auditor general requesting that his office investigate the proposed transfer of the concession to run three hospitals Maltese hospitals from Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) to Steward Healthcare.

Addressing a press conference this morning, PN deputy leader David Agius said the request was being made through the House Public Accounts Committee (PAC), adding that it was unacceptable that millions in tax-payer money had been given to the company without any results.

MP Beppe Fenech Adami stressed that the Opposition had expressed serious doubts about the suitability of VGH to run three of Malta’s public hospitals given that it had no prior experience in the healthcare sector.

"Vitals was paid millions, only to now sell its concession and make more millions, " he said.

In the letter - signed by the MPs Kristy Debono, Claudio Grech and Beppe Fenech Adami – the Nationalist MPs who sit on the PAC said it was evident that good governance in the health sector was being undermined, given that a concession that was to see VGH run Karin Grech, St Luke’s and the Gozo General Hospital for 30 years, is being transferred after less than 30 months.

“The Opposition is very concerned by the fact that public health services in this country have ended up being subject to secret deals,” read the letter.

It added that besides “serious procedural concerns”, the latest developments represented an undermining of good governance, which has led to public healthcare services being negotiated by third parties “as though it were some commodity”

Speaking to MaltaToday last month, Auditor General Charles Deguara confirmed that the audit of the original agreement had not yet started, adding that the latest developments would be included if a request was made, or if his office “deemed it necessary”.

Asked whether the opposition was suggesting that the concession agreement be scrapped, Agius said that the PN would be suggesting possible ways forward in the coming days, so that the situation could be improved.

“We are going to wait to have this discussion with the health committee as well as wait for the conclusions of the Auditor General,” said Agius. “We are goingt o wait and see. The fact that there is this development is a sign that we were right to criticise the deal.”

He added that possibility of the hospitals going to the health department should not be excluded.

The Labour Party react

The Labour Party has since said that the government had already asked the General auditor to investigate Public Private Partnership contracts in the health sector.

“Health Minister Chris Fearne had asked the General auditor to investigate Vital Global Healthcare back in December 2016,” the statement said.

The statement said that the general auditor had full access to the files, and that the PN’s move this morning was another one of the Opposition’s negative tactic.