Delia takes government to court
● PL says Delia ‘trying to discourage investment’
Opposition leader Adrian Delia yesterday filed a court application to nullify the contract between the government and VGH, and return the three state hospitals back under government control. Photo: Michael Camilleri
Opposition leader Adrian Delia yesterday presented a court application to stop the transfer of the concession between Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) and Steward Healthcare System, and return the three state hospitals back under government control.
Describing the deal as “doomed to fail,” Delia said that VGH had breached a number of terms and deadlines stipulated in the contract, explaining that this was the basis for his case.
“We know for a fact that there were obligations within the contract with VGH that had to be fulfilled within three years... this contact should be declared null. It is the most scandalous deal this country has ever seen and we are convinced that the government should never have entered into this agreement in the first place,” he said, with the PN parliamentary group standing behind him.
“We still do not know who the ultimate beneficial owners of VGH are, or the price the concession has been sold for, despite filing a judicial protest and repeatedly asking for the information in parliament. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna have failed to reply to our questions,” he continued.
Asked by The Malta Independent what he would do, if he were prime minister, with the three state hospitals – which desperately need investment – should they be returned to the state’s control, Delia was coy and failed to provide a specific plan, insisting that he was fulfilling his obligations as part of the Opposition by protecting the country’s interests.
“The government always talks about the surplus, but why is this money not going to our healthcare system?”
Speaking on Net TV in the evening, Delia later said that a PN government would greatly invest in healthcare. The greatest investment the country can make is in healthcare, he said.
During the afternoon press conference, Delia also faced questions concerning his “conviction that VGH was built to fail” and who would benefit from its failure. The PN leader said that if he knew who the shareholders were, he could answer that question.
“I can only ask the question as to why the government defended this company to the end, and even when it failed, it gave VGH the right to choose who purchases and takes over our healthcare system.”
VGH has been at the centre of controversy since it transferred its 30-year concession to run three state hospitals to Steward Healthcare System only 21 months into operations.
Reliable and well-informed sources have told the newsroom that VGH was forced into a sale due to mounting financial difficulty and that Minister Mizzi had known about the state of affairs for an entire year prior to the announcement.
Government reaction
The government, in a statement, said that Delia’s action before the courts against the health sector investment by Steward Healthcare was done in an attempt to make patients lose out on the best infrastructure in the Gozo, St Luke’s and Karin Grech hospitals.
It said that the Opposition was not proposing any alternative, with the “inevitable” conclusion being that the Opposition leader’s attack was against foreign investment. It said that the Opposition’s “negativity” had become worse than before.
The Labour Party said that Delia had carried on with the same tactics employed by his predecessor to “try to discourage investment” contrary to the ‘new way’ that was promised.
“He was meant to go to court the first thing in the morning and ended up spending it struggling with his parliamentary group. As a matter of fact, he said what he was going to do before speaking to his group and ended up arguing with them in a two-hour meeting,” it read.
VGH remains concessionaire in spite of Steward acquisition - Mizzi
Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi yesterday told Parliament that Vitals Global Healthcare remained the concessionaire of the health services of the Gozo, Karin Grech, and St Luke’s hospitals, in spite of the acquisition by Steward Healthcare System.
Mizzi was responding to a parliamentary question tabled by MP Simon Busuttill, in which he was asked to provide the documentation which authorises the transfer of shares of the three state hospitals to a private company.
“Vitals Global Healthcare is not expected to transfer its shares of the three state hospitals; rather, it was and remains the concessionaire of the health services you mentioned, even with the acquisition by Steward Healthcare,” Mizzi said.
This appears to run completely contrary to statements previously made by the government and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, who announced that a “transfer agreement” was signed on 20 December between VGH and Steward.
Mizzi has also stated in parliament and to the press that the cabinet gave its consensus for the transfer of shares.