Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia clarified that when he said the government had not commissioned John Dalli to compile the report into Mater Dei Hospital he meant the ministry adviser had not been paid for the job.
In fact, Mr Dalli had been commissioned by the government to draw up the report, which he did voluntarily, he said.
“He was directly commissioned by the government. When I spoke about commissioning I referred to the money and this is where there was a misunderstanding with the media… John Dalli is an adviser of the Health Ministry and I led him to the Prime Minister and one of the tasks given to him was the report,” Dr Farrugia told Times of Malta yesterday.
A controversy over the commissioning of Mr Dalli arose last Wednesday when the minister told the media: “The John Dalli report was never commissioned by the government. John Dalli is working as an adviser to the Health Ministry on a voluntary basis and it was his wish to take a snapshot of how he sees things personally and the possible way forward; and that is what he did. He expressed his wish and we accepted his wish.”
However, Mr Dalli then told Times of Malta that the Prime Minister had asked him to write the report on Mater Dei Hospital published last week.
He said the Prime Minister had made the request during a meeting where other people, including the Health Minister, were present.
His version matched that given by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat: when speaking during a radio interview he said the government had appointed Mr Dalli to draw up the report that would take a snapshot of the situation at the hospital.
Yesterday, Dr Farrugia confirmed this version: when he said that Mr Dalli was not commissioned it was in the context of the Johns Hopkins University report – commissioned by the Nationalist government – having cost €1.3 million, whereas the Dalli report did not cost a penny.
Asked about the hospital IT system, the minister said he was “very confident” that having it in-house was the right decision. Times of Malta has revealed that the new patient administration system (PAS) is being devised by Mark Sammut – a former IT adviser to Mr Dalli.
Last week a ministry spokesman said it was the ministry that was responsible for employing Mr Sammut, who was on a “standard salary”, and not Mr Dalli.