St Philip’s Hospital cannot be enlarged into a 280-bed facility unless it is demolished and rebuilt, according to Alternattiva Demokratika spokesman Carmel Cacopardo.
An architect, Mr Cacopardo said yesterday that the hospital was built in such a way as to maximise the limited space available. Only minor additions could be made, he added, and these would definitely not be enough to more than double the bed capacity as the Government planned.
“The only way to have a 280-bed hospital on the site is to pull it down and rebuild it and this would entail various other issues with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority,” Mr Cacopardo said. Addressing a press conference in front of the abandoned hospital in Santa Venera, Mr Cacopardo noted that parking would be a major issue if the hospital size ballooned.
From the way Finance Minister Tonio Fenech spoke in Parliament on the discussions with the planning authority, he added, it was clear that the minister knew it was very difficult to have a 280-bed hospital.
“Even though it agreed to lease the hospital with an option to buy if the planning authority gives its go ahead, it is evident the Government is only interested in taking patients out of Mater Dei Hospital’s corridors for the next five months in the run-up to the election,” Mr Cacopardo said. He insisted that the St Philip’s deal was a question of bad governance and if the Government was acting in good faith it should submit the agreement for parliamentary scrutiny before signing.
Mr Cacopardo implied that St Philip’s hospital owner Frank Portelli, a former Nationalist Party MP, was “a victim”.
“Frank Portelli is bankrupt and he could not negotiate the price. He had to take the price offered but, even so, the Government could have had a cheaper solution had it started refurbishing some of the wards in St Luke’s Hospital,” Mr Cacopardo said.
He estimated that, at half the price tag to buy St Philip’s, the refurbishment at St Luke’s would have given the Government enough rehabilitation beds with no problem for future expansion. On Tuesday, Mr Fenech said the deal would be signed “in the coming days” after lawyers finalised the details.
The Times has twice asked Mr Portelli for permission to enter the hospital but access has so far been denied.
The Government wants to lease the hospital for €850,000 a year for eight years with an option to buy from the third year onwards. The final price tag for buying would be €12.4 million excluding additional expenses to increase the bed capacity.