Health services should be free for all, the Labour Party said this evening.

It said in a statement that its position was clear from the very beginning but the health reform document presented by the Prime Minister showed that the government’s intention was to introduce payment on health.

The PL said it was strange how Health Minister Joe Cassar opted to forget the PL’s clear position on the reform.

It was clear that the government was confused. It first hid what it was planning from the people and after publishing the document it was now saying it would be changed.

This would not be a change based on conviction, but one it was constrained to make because it had MPs who were against what was being proposed.

The PL said that the Prime Minister had tried to deny the existence of the document, which Labour leader Joseph Muscat had said existed. The Prime Minister had solemnly promised that health services would remain free of charge.

But now that the mask had fallen, the government was again hiding its real intentions.

For in spite of Dr Cassar’s declarations to the media, the government had not yet explained how it was to address the people’s biggest worry, that of a lack of beds at Mater Dei Hospital for the people to have the best possible health service, the PL said.