Parliamentary debate on VGH and Stewards slated for 17 January

A parliamentary plenary debate on the transfer of business from Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) to Steward Healthcare International will take place on Wednesday, 17 January.

The government proposed a parliamentary debate in the House of Representatives following the Opposition’s call for a discussion to take place over the agreement within the Parliamentary Committee for Health.

During a meeting of the House Business Committee yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne pushed forward with this agenda, insisting that the debate should be discussed within the country’s highest institution to give it the importance it deserves.

While Deputy PN Leader David Agius agreed that the discussion should take place within a plenary session, he still believed that the potential transfer of business should be debated by Parliament’s Health Committee before it is debated in the House.

Fearne did not rule out the possibility that the sale will be discussed within the committee at some stage but held that the discussion should take place in a plenary session to allow everyone the opportunity to speak.

Government fears questions from stakeholders PN

- The PN yesterday slammed the decision not to debate the matter at committee level, claiming that the government is only seeking a plenary session debate and snubbed the call for a discussion within the parliamentary committee due to fears of facing questions from stakeholders that would need to be answered in real time.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party expressed its disappointment with a government which, they say, preaches with regards to transparency but acts in a different manner.

“This morning, Joseph Muscat’s government did not confirm whether it was ready to discuss the contract and dubious concession between the government and VGH in front of the Permanent Committee for Health.

“It seems that the government does not want these discussions to take place as they do not want the stakeholders to ask relevant questions that they would need to give answers to in real time.

“The Opposition is in favour of a plenary debate, however, this means that only MPs will speak without the involvement of primary stakeholders. This is the only reason why the Government wants the debate to take place only in Plenary.

“All this shows is that the Government has something to hide over this dubious contract which included the sale of all the equipment at the three hospitals for one euro.”

Opposition’s claims ‘nonsensical’ Labour Party

Retaliating, the Labour Party said: “The fact that the government wants the discussion to take place in plenary proves that the Opposition’s claims that the government wants to dodge the debate makes no sense.

“Rather, the government has placed the discussion on a more important level, in the highest institution of the country, in order to explain that the involvement of a renowned company in America will bring improvements in the health sector. The Opposition will have its full opportunity to explain why it has been and is against the project.

“This will be done in the hope that someone begins to understand why the Opposition does not want this to happen to the hospitals it left closed when it was in government. Today, Maltese patients receive the best service that will attract medical tourism.

“Playing the ‘negativity’ card once again, the statement closed by saying that New PN Leader Adrian Delia has started of the year like his predecessor Simon Busuttil.”