Hospital administrator claims doctor overcharged for his services

 Frank Portelli, administrator of St. Philip's Hospital alleged today that Professor Louis Buhagiar misappropriated funds which were meant for the hospital, and also inflated charges.

He was testifying in a libel case instituted by Prof Buhagiar against MaltaToday managing editor Saviour Balzan. Both Dr Portelli and Prof Buhagiar are former MPs, one Nationalist and the other Labour.

Dr Portelli said Prof Buhagiar was suspended from his hospital because of the financial issues.

He said that foreign patients and insurance companies had contacted him about payments which they had already forwarded.

There had also been cases where bills were inflated or diverted to an account which was linked to a clinic run by Prof Buhagiar.

Giving examples, he said that Lm1,219 were sent by a foreign patient by swift transfer into an HSBC bank account in Zurrieq for services by Prof Buhagiar when the money was supposed to be paid to St. Philip's Hospital.

In another case, two foreign students were charged Lm75 each for a five-minute diagnosis for a throat and ear ache. He said that on the day, the doctor who was meant to see the two students had other patients and they therefore accepted to be seen by Prof Buhagiar.

Dr Portelli said that he was surprised that Buhagiar had asked for Lm75 from each of the two students, when St. Philips was only meant to charge their school Lm8.

Dr Portelli said that in another instance, an insurance company was charged Lm400 for an MRI scan which was actually never performed as as the patient was transferred to St. James in Zabbar.

Prof Buhagiar's reply

In a statement, Prof Buhagiar said he totally refuted and denied all allegations uttered in court by Dr  Portelli.

He said that the Medical Council had already found Dr Portelli guilty of defamation and imposed a fine of €10,000.