Health Shadow Minister Claudette Buttigieg this morning called on Health Minister Chris Fearne to disassociate himself from the published hospital contracts between the government and Vitals.

Speaking on the health ministry votes, Ms Buttigieg teared into the €200 million contract for the running of three hospitals published last week but with many blank pages, stirring controversy.

She described the contracts  as amateurish, saying they were littered with many mistakes.

She said two companies had been incorporated on May 13 and 18, 2015 - with the mother company Bluestone - registered in the British Virgin Islands and therefore it was hard to obtain any information.

Just two days later, former Health Minister Konrad Mizzi announced that the Vitals group had won the contract.

"Who do you think you are hoodwinking?" she told parliament this morning.

Ms Buttigieg said the contracts for Vitals Global Health Care Management Ltd u Vitals Global Health Care Assets Ltd were signed last November 30 last year and three days later, on December 2, accounts were opened in Panama. She alleged that the deal was only signed for people to line their pockets.

She underlined that the Opposition was totally opposed to the privatisation of Mount Carmel hospital.

The MP's speech was punctuated with protests from the government benches when she said that certain medicines were out of stock.

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