Dalli report on Mater Dei Hospital discussed on tonight’s Reporter

Tonight's edition of Reporter discussed John Dalli's report on Mater Dei Hospital, together with former European health commissioner John Dalli and Medical Association of Malta secretary-general Martin Balzan.

In his report, ‘Mater Dei Hospital: A Better Social Return', John Dalli has insisted that the only way forward for the hospital is its political autonomy and for its administration to be left in the hands of the management rather than under political influence.

The report uncovered numerous accounting discrepancies and found that the primary problem was an inexistent management with all departments and stakeholders working on their own, disjointed from others.

For instance, financial records disclose medical equipment at €110 million against inventory records of €67 million. Moreover, there was no management control over payroll costs amounting to €105 million, whereas overtime and allowances amount to €37 million.

However, the government has since distanced itself from the report and stressed that Dalli does not reflect the government's opinion. Reporter will ask whether the government is ready to accept Dalli's advice to remove political influence from the hospital's administration.

MediaToday Managing Editor Saviour Balzan also examined Dalli's allegations that there have been thefts in the hospital.

Reporter included numerous live telephone interventions from various stakeholders including Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia and PN health spokesperson Claudio Grech.