PN questions and calls for immediate discussion on VGH-Steward Healthcare transfer
The Nationalist Party (PN) yesterday called for an immediate discussion on the sale of the concession between Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) and Steward Health Care System.
Addressing a press conference, PN deputy leader David Agius informed the press that they had written to chairperson Silvio Grixti from the Parliamentary Health Committee in the name of the Opposition, asking to discuss the matter in a “concrete manner.”
Last month, Vitals Global Healthcare, the company which was entrusted with the provision of healthcare services through Gozo General Hospital, Karin Grech Hospital and St Luke’s Hospital, sold its concession to an US company called Steward Healthcare System. VGH sold the concession only 21 months after securing a deal with the Maltese government.
Agius said that the Opposition had many questions to ask regarding the transfer, including why VGH had left Malta at the start of a 30-year contract; who the real owners of Vitals are; and if, in the rush to transfer the concession, procedures of public procurement were looked into. He also called on the government to publish the contract “uncensored.”
Shadow minister for health Stephen Spiteri, who also forms part of the Parliamentary Health Committee, said: “The Opposition, as well as citizens and associations of doctors and nurses, have always expressed concern towards this contract.”
He explained that the letter requests a discussion on the health situation within hospitals and seeks to discuss the impact on patients of selling. Spiteri went on to list a number of factors within the contract which he claimed had not been accomplished within the time frames stipulated in the contract, including an increase in beds at St Luke’s and the new medical school in Gozo. “It is no surprise that the VGH gave up,” he said. “If these obligations were not fulfilled in the stipulated timeframe, the contract can be declined and can be given back to the health department,” he added.
Commenting on Steward Health Care System, which “at least has a track record in health,” Spiteri asked whether the American system which Steward Health Care System adopts is adapted to that of our country.
Government reaction
The government has proposed a parliamentary debate within the House following the Opposition’s call for discussion about the agreement between Vitals Global Healthcare and Steward Healthcare within the Parliamentary Committee of Health.
“The government agrees that parliamentary discussions need to take place over this positive development; however, we are proposing that this takes place within a plenary session in order to give it the importance it deserves.
“The statement went on to say that the government is satisfied with Steward Healthcare’s excellent track record in the American health sector. The company currently runs 36 hospitals in the USA and employs 37,000 healthcare professionals.”
Meanwhile the government reminds the PN deputy leader David Agius, that on the government’s own initiative, in December two years ago, the contracts signed between the government and VGH were placed under the scrutiny of the auditor-general.”