The Gozo General and St Luke’s hospitals are to be converted into new medical centres “on par with, or even better than, Mater Dei” through a €200 million investment, according to the Prime Minister.
“We will be solving the problem of a lack of beds and patients in corridors. We will be ensuring healthcare and the education of healthcare professionals remains as good as ever and free,” he announced on Times Talk last night.
“We will also be ensuring workers retain their jobs. That, Opposition leader is how we plan to bring investment to the economy,” Dr Muscat said, in reply to Simon Busuttil’s question on how the government planned to finance its electoral promises.
We will be solving the problem of patients in corridors
He was speaking during a head-to-head debate with Dr Busuttil when he announced he would be signing the agreement today with Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, which forms part of the Queen Mary University of London.
The multimillion euro agreement will see the opening of a branch of the world-famous Barts medical school in Malta and Gozo.
The teaching institution is ranked as the UK’s fourth best medical research centre, with the quality of its studies regarded as the best the country has to offer.
It was not long before the gloves came off during the first debate between the two leaders in months, as Dr Busuttil accused the Prime Minister of taking bribes, an allegation Dr Muscat took issue with.
Dr Busuttil said the Auditor General’s report on the controversial Café Premier bailout “raised suspicions”. When Dr Muscat asked if he was accusing him of accepting bribes, Dr Busuttil replied: “Of course”.
The accusation triggered a heated retaliation from Dr Muscat.
“Are you being serious? My God, you are shameful. I don’t even want to acknowledge what you just said,” the Prime Minister told Dr Busuttil.
He added that he had nothing to hide and had fully complied with the Auditor General’s inquiry.
In a quick fire round at the end of Times of Malta’s weekly TV programme, Dr Muscat admitted that considering pushing back a group of migrants to Libya at the start of the legislature had been a mistake while Dr Busuttil said he would not exclude forming a coalition with AD.