The private company running three State hospitals as part of a multimillion-euro deal had still to apply for the necessary permits, the Health Ministry confirmed.
A spokeswoman for Health Minister Chris Fearne said Vitals Global Healthcare would be submitting its application in the near future. For the time being, the company was being allowed to operate the hospitals provided it maintained the same conditions and standards that prevailed when they were run by the government, she added.
Vitals signed a public-private partnership agreement with the government that will see it invest some €220 million in a total revamp of the Karin Grech, St Luke’s and Gozo hospitals. They have been transferred to the company on a 30-year lease in line with the deal reached with the government in March.
The Medical Association of Malta questioned how the company was being allowed to issue calls for applications for employees and take over the running of three major hospitals without first applying for licences.
“In Malta, you cannot even open a tattoo parlour without a licence. A tattooist in possession of a permit and whose parlour is also licensed cannot just sell it to anyone and expect them to be covered by his licence. Somehow, this company is being allowed to operate three hospitals without even asking for a licence,” the doctors’ union’s general secretary, Martin Balzan, told the Times of Malta.
In Malta, you cannot even open a tattoo parlour without a licence
The Health Ministry spokeswoman said the management transition of the three hospitals from the government to Vitals was “ongoing”. She pointed out that all three hospitals were covered by operating licences issued by the Superintendent of Public Health.
“These licences are valid and are up to date and were issued after periodic inspections,” she noted.
The MAM and the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin last week filed a joint judicial protest calling for the contracts between the government and Vitals to be made public.
The protest also called on the government to submit all the contracts to the attention of the Auditor General to be scrutinised as part of a due diligence process. The protest was filed against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Health Minister Chris Fearne, Minister Without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi – who was previously responsible for health – and against the Directorate for Healthcare Services.
Vitals has pledged to transform the hospitals into state-of-the-art centres, increasing bed capacity and attracting medical tourism.
The company estimates it will generate about 800 new jobs, half of them in Gozo. The Times of Malta yesterday reported that the Public Accounts Committee would “likely” review the contracts signed deeming them to be of public interest.
The matter will be discussed by the PAC when Parliament reconvenes after the summer recess.
PAC chairman and former finance minister Tonio Fenech said he would not exclude asking the Auditor General to investigate all the contracts signed.