PD: health care deal has to be transparent, benefit the people

Through the hospitals deal with Vitals Global Healthcare, it is clear that the government is not negotiating project contracts in the interest of the people, but for the personal interest of a few, Democratic Party MP Marlene Farrugia said today, as she called Vitals’ lack of carrying out the investment it was contracted to do an act of ‘contempt’ towards the Maltese people whom it was supposed to serve.

Farrugia emphasised, in a press conference this morning, that while PD agreed that working with the private sector could lead to improving and developing the health care sector, it was absolutely necessary that any projects granted to private companies were done using a completely transparent process, and that every agreement the government reaches is one which gives a benefit to the people.

“In deals such as the VGH agreement, or the Institute for Tourism Studies deal, were public land was given away so cheaply, the people are not gaining anything but are instead at the losing end,” Farrugia stressed.

Supporting Farrugia’s arguments, PD leader Anthony Buttigieg said that the lack of transparency in the Vitals contract showed that the government had something to hide.

“If the government really wanted to reach the best possible health care agreement for the people, why did it issue a Memorandum of Understanding before it scrutinised the offers of other companies?” he asked, “St Luke’s, Gozo and Karin Grech hospitals, constituting more than half of Malta’s health service, were sold to a company with no track record in health. We later got to know that Vitals didn’t even have the money to investment in the hospitals, and they had to put a hypothec on them as security for a loan.”

“They are now going to sell the hospitals to another company, and we don’t know what profit they will make on this, off of people’s money,” he maintained, as he highlighted that doctors were striking today in reaction to the transfer of the hospitals’ concession from Vitals to Steward Health Care taking place without their knowledge.”

Forza Nazzjonali not something Delia can dissolve

Turning to the Democratic Party’s current status, Farrugia said that Forza Nazzjonali was not something which could be dissolved by Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia.

“Forza Nazzjonali is a mass of people, who believes that before we achieve good governance and put right the way things are done in Malta, the man in the street will ultimately not benefit,” she said, “Delia decided not to subscribe to this mindset.”

She explained that, while PD had been on the Nationalist Party’s ballot paper in last year’s general election - because they wanted to unite with the opposition to create change, and since they did not have enough time since they had been set up to run for election alone - the party’s MPs had been elected by people who knew that they were voting for the Democratic Party, which is based on good governance, social justice and environmental protection.

“Delia washed his hands of the agreement the PN had with the PD, and in doing so he also denied what constituted that agreement - good governance and all that PD stands for,” she said, asserting that today’s Nationalist Party was split “between DeliaPN and those who still have the Forza Nazzjonali mindset.”

“The Nationalist Party’s silence on recent important issues shows that the party the PD had an agreement with is not the same party which exists now under Delia,” she maintained.

Farrugia also drew attention to the what she claimed was a lack of government investment in essential areas, such as social workers, doctors and teachers, despite the country's economy doing well.

“It is the government’s responsibility to have enough social workers on the ground, with the right resources, to avoid tragedies like the young [Nigerian] girl who passed away recently, and the Mount Carmel patient who was found dead on Sunday,” she said.