Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi insisted this morning that the government would fight Swedish contractors Skanska 'tooth and nail' in order to get compensation for weak concrete at Mater Dei Hospital.
Dr Mizzi was speaking on One Radio after Skanska wrote to the Attorney General refusing responsibility for weak concrete found at Mater Dei Hospital.
"We will be presenting Skanska with costed claims for the defects we have found. We will fight them at the political level, the commercial level and the legal level, and we will not throw in the towel as the former government did after claims were made about a leaking reservoir," Dr Mizzi said.
He said legal and technical teams headed by the Attorney General were working on the case and costings were expected to be completed next month.
"We want to get what the people paid for," Dr Mizzi said.
It was highly disappointing, he added, that the contract negotiated by the former government included a project closure agreement with a waiver on future claims. Skanska used that waiver to deny responsibility for the leaking reservoir, and the former government had surrendered that claim, Dr Mizzi said.
However, the position of the current administration was that tests on the quality of the concrete made during construction were fraudulent.
Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said the least the opposition could do was to offer an apology to the people. It should then back the government in its claims against Skanska, not throw a hammer in the works.
ONCOLOGY CENTRE TO BE INAUGURATED THIS AFTERNOON
Dr Fearne said the migration of services from Boffa Hospital to the Sir Anthony Mamo oncology centre had gone very smoothly, and the centre would be formally inaugurated this afternoon, offering top notch services for cancer patients.
Dr Mizzi said the government had a sense of ownership of the oncology centre, because when it inherited the project after the general election, it found it to be way behind schedule and disorganised. Many changes had since been made and he thanked all involved.
The new centre, he said, would offer treatment and care to patients with dignity. The government's vision was to have all services offered at the same level as the new oncology centre, he said.
Both Dr Mizzi and Dr Fearne also spoke on how the present government had solved the problem of out of stock medicines. Much headway had also been made in reducing waiting lists for surgery but significant progress had been made and, Dr Mizzi said, he was confident that even more satisfactory results would be achieved shortly.
Dr Fearne also pointed out how a new wing is being built at Mater Dei, eventually offering almost 300 new beds. It was hoped, he said, that the problem of patients in hospital corridors would be resolved within a year.
Dr Mizzi also spoke on the workers at Gozo Hospital and St Luke's when new, private, management, is introduced. He said all workers would remain on the government payroll and they would not lose their working conditions in terms of their collective agreement.
Dr Fearne said demand for workers would actually increase, particularly more nurses and doctors. Eventually, some 60 Gozitan nurses working in Malta would be able to gradually move to Gozo.
Dr Fearne also announced that a Casualty Unit for children will open shortly at Mater Dei Hospital. It will have five cubicles and its own reception and set-up.