No apologies, amid fresh exchanges on health

Rebutting the Prime Minister's call for an apology, Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday said a second Government report made mention of the health service being partly funded by "miscellaneous fees".

But in a reply the Government insisted that Dr Sant had once again got hold of the wrong end of the stick, and said that such fees were mentioned in a public document and only applied to foreigners and companies.

Speaking during a party activity in Xagħra, Dr Sant showed the press the Preliminary National Report on Health Care and Long-Term Care, which was submitted to the EU by the Health Ministry in 2005.

It says that the Government plans to set up a national health fund that would be financed "through hypothecated taxes (indirect taxation), Government grants and miscellaneous fees".

Dr Sant said: "The fact is that Dr Gonzi lied and is therefore a liar, very simple... no way will I apologise... he should apologise for lying to the Maltese people on something that is so close to their heart."

The news about the first Government document released by Labour last Wednesday hit the headlines in recent days.

However, Dr Gonzi has insisted on his position that the Cabinet did not discuss the matter and that the report was shot down by a sub-committee for social affairs within Cabinet.

The Prime Minister also said he would resign if his Government taxed healthcare under his leadership on Friday evening when being interviewed on Xarabank.

In light of the document released yesterday, however, Dr Sant argued that if the Cabinet had really washed its hands of the proposal to have fees introduced on health care in 2004, the Government would not have suggested it again in 2005 as part of discussions of an EU-wide reform.

Pointing out that the document is public and has been so for a while, Dr Sant insisted that the Prime Minister's denials and twisting of facts had surpassed every threshold of decency.

The author of the document released last Wednesday, a director within the health ministry, had issued a sworn statement the following day saying that the salient sentence in his report, which says that "the Cabinet has agreed in principle to this concept but fees for Maltese citizens will not be introduced for the moment due to their political underpinnings..." was simply his interpretation.

On this point too, however, Dr Sant stressed that the Government's defence was not credible. "Tell me, how could a civil servant imagine that the Cabinet had agreed in principle, and that the measure would not be introduced due to political consequences?"

Dr Sant said the director had understood correctly and the 2005 document showed that the chapter on this issue had not been closed in 2004 as the Prime Minister said when reacting to the publication of the document.

But in a statement issued yesterday afternoon, the Government accused the Labour leader of trying to give the impression that he was divulging a secret report when in reality, this report has been freely available on the Health Ministry website after it was presented to the European Commission's Social Protection Committee in April 2005.

It said the 'miscellaneous fees' cited by Dr Sant were nothing more than the fees paid by foreign patients or for services rendered to companies. These fees had formed part of the Government's budget for years, even spanning the period when Dr Sant himself was Prime Minister.

"The Government recalls that the first tax it eliminated in 1998 was for the payment of medicines, which was introduced by Dr Sant in 1997. Facts speak for themselves."

Yesterday Labour activity, held in Xagħra's main square, was marked by the presence of Nationalist backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who sat in the area reserved for journalists while the rally went on.

Despite a Labour Party camera honing in on Dr Pullicino Orlando, Dr Sant made no mention of him save for a cursory teasing reference to his presence, though he did not actually mention him by name.