Agreements with Vitals and Steward Health Care are under investigation, NAO says

The National Audit Office (NAO) has rebutted allegations made by MAM president Martin Balzan, that the office had yet to start an investigation into agreements with Vitals and Steward Health Care.

In a statement, the NAO said that it failed to understand Balzan’s “unfounded” comments.

“As all involved stakeholders are aware, the Office is presently conducting an extensive investigation of the agreements,” the NAO said.

On Tuesday, while addressing a press conference Balzan claimed that the NAO had to date not conducted an inquiry in what he said amounted to institutional failure.

“The Auditor General has to do his duty or at least admit he is scared to evaluate the contract. This is an institutional failure,” Balzan said. 

Balzan said that according to the legal advice it had received, MAM, didn’t have the grounds to start a formal dispute on the PPP deal, it was actively evaluating whether it could do so on the basis of a breach of EU state aid rules.

Furthermore, the association said that the government's public-private partnership (PPP) agreement with Steward Health Care has failed, and the US consortium’s deal should not be extended.

Balzan said that the 2020 budgetary estimates indicate that the government has either approved or is planning to approve an increase in payment to Steward.

He emphasized that no more money should be given to the US health care giant and that Steward should either carry out its contractual obligations or else leave Malta.

Balzan's criticism came on the same day that the Barts Medical School in Gozo, which formed part of the Steward deal, was opened for students.

Steward took over the PPP contract that government had entered into with the obscure Vitals Global Healthcare after the latter company went bust. The contract covers the Gozo general hospital, St Luke's hospital and Karen Grech hospital.