A parliamentary plenary debate over the transfer of business from Vitals Global Healthcare and Steward Healthcare International will take place on Wednesday 17 January.

Last month, Vitals Global Healthcare, the company which was entrusted with the provision of healthcare services through the Gozo, Karin Grech and St Lukes hospitals, sold its concession to an American company called Steward Healthcare System. VGH sold the concession only 21 months after securing a deal with the Maltese government. 

The deal has long been the source of controversy with the Opposition consistently calling for the full publication of the contract between the government and VGH, instead of the heavily redacted version presented in Parliament.

The government proposed a parliamentary debate within the house 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, Deputy Prime 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 within the committee before entering 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.

PN statement

The PN has claimed that the government is only seeking a plenary session and snubbing the call for a discussion within the parliamentary debate over fears of facing questions with stakeholders that would need to be answered in real time.

In a statement, the Nationalist Party expressed its disappointment that the government who 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 read.

“It seems that the government does not want these discussions to take place as they do not what 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.”

PL statement 

A PL statement read as follows:

“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 through 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.