Nationalist MP Franco Debono has presented a motion in Parliament calling for the process for the acquisition of St Philip's Hospital by the government to be halted until the whole acquisition process in examined by the Auditor-General or the Public Accounts Committee.

In his motion Dr Debono complains that the House was not informed about the acquisition of the hospital, which will involve an outlay of €12 million over a number of years.

This acquisition, he points out, was happening just four years after the government opened Mater Dei Hospital. 

The process, so close to a general election, was raising certain doubts which needed to be addressed.

The motion says that the fact that the Health Ministry was long subject to strong criticism for its mismanagement and lack of vision further underlined the need for parliamentary scrutiny. 

In his motion Dr Debono also calls for a reform and modernisation of parliamentary standing orders and reforms to give parliament its proper dignity.