The government’s decision to submit the full contracts with Vitals Global Health Care for scrutiny by the Auditor General has been welcomed by the Medical Association of Malta and the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin, who noted that common sense had finally prevailed.

In a statement this morning, the doctors’ association and the union noted that the change of heart came a week after there seemed to be stiff resistance to this from government MPs on the Public Accounts Committee in Parliament to their joint letter.

Last week, the MAM doctors' union and the UĦM expressed their disappointment after government MPs on the Public Accounts Committee rejected their request for an investigation by the committee of the contracts awarded to the Vitals Group, saying the issue should be investigated by the Parliamentary Health Committee.

But yesterday, Health Minister Chris Fearne asked the Public Accounts Committee to invite the Auditor General to scrutinise the 'full' public-private partnership contracts awarded for the running of the Gozo Hospital, St Luke's and Karin Grech hospitals.

The unions had asked for this to be done before they could commit themselves to the venture when representing the interests of their members. They said they would follow this process closely as they could only collaborate with the project once this process was concluded to their satisfaction.

The unions also expressed surprise at public statements last Sunday that the Gozo General Hospital was only a glorified health centre. Such statements were misleading the public, caused concern to potential patients and demotivated the professional staff who strove to provide a high standard of care at this hospital.

Gozo General Hospital had fully equipped operating theatres that were recently refubished using EU funds and major operations were performed by surgeons working full time in Gozo, and visiting surgeons from  Malta. There were also fully equipped s coronary and intensive care units. Highly complex medical cases were handled in Gozo, and  patients were only rarely transferred to Malta.

There has been little, if any, change since Vitals Global Healthcare took over the management of the hospital despite the millions paid by the Maltese Government. While it was fully licensed as a government institution by the regulator, Vitals Global Healthcare had unfortunately failed to even apply for such a licence since they assumed the hospital’s management in May 2016, they noted.