The Government’s decision to hold a customer service review of the animal hospital Ċentru San Franġisk in Ta’ Qali has not won the backing of its operator.
Trevor Zammit, the veterinary business owner, filed an official letter in court holding Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Roderick Galdes responsible for any damages he may suffer as a result of the review. The Department of Information said the Parliamentary Secretariat felt the operation of the centre was a matter of public and national interest and public consultation through the review would still go ahead.
Dr Zammit told Times of Malta that he did not want to stop the customer satisfaction review “but I want to cover my back”.
He had not been consulted “in any way” about the review. When asked why he was not keen on it, he said: “It depends on how the whole thing is worded. I am protecting my rights, my property and my finances.”
San Franġisk, he stressed, was his private business and he could not understand why the Government was getting involved.
The 24-hour centre, which was built with €420,000 of government money, was inaugurated in October 2010. Dr Zammit was contracted to operate it following a public call for applications. He has 10 vets among his 35 employees. The centre sees between 80 and 100 animal patients a day, 50 of these being brought in by the Animal Welfare Department.
As part of the contract, veterinary care to the latter is given free of charge, with only the cost of the medicine being covered.
The contract also states that he has to charge commercial rates. “I know what others charge and I charge similarly,” said Dr Zammit. “This official letter is the minimum I could do, I could have filed a judicial protest but I didn’t,” he said.
He told Times of Malta that he offered “sophisticated service” and that a lot of work had been done on the building, which was quite run down when he took it over. He pays €1,000 a month in rent. In a controversy soon after the centre was opened, pet owners complained they were being charged higher rates than those promised by the then government.