Opposition spokesman on health Anthony Zammit on Tuesday highlighted deficiencies in a number of departments at Mater Dei Hospital, saying the people were not satisfied with the health service for which they were paying through their own taxes.

Dr Zammit, who was speaking during the parliamentary debate on the Bill introducing the budgetary measures, questioned how the income from the increased taxes was being spent and said that the Minister of Finance had not been able to provide assurances that such money was being spent in health services. Every penny spent in the health sector, he said, was an investment not only in people's health but also in the economy.

The health sector was riddled with squandering, he said, mentioning as example the generator which failed to start during Monday's power cut at Mater Dei Hospital. There was also the throwing away of thousands of euros' worth of medicines that had expired. In this regard he proposed that lists be provided to consultants indicating which medications will expire within three months so that they could determine whether they can use any of these medications rather than others.

Dr Zammit said that medical professionals were to incorporate a sense of financial responsibility in the management of their work and expressed his agreement with the introduction of clinic managers. He called on those working within the health sector to become more sensitive to patients' needs, saying that the government had allowed its employees to take the lead and that this had brought about a situation of neglect.

There are too many experienced nurses in managerial posts and only few nurses with such experience on the ground - a situation where one had too many chiefs and too little Indians. This had been brought about by the government's restricting strategy for nurses, which had seen those having long-standing experience as nurses being appointed managers rather than as practicing nurses.

While commending the voluntary group which assisted patients in hospital, Dr Zammit criticised the appointment of an experienced nurse as the manager of this initiative. Thus, SCBU patients had lost a nurse with long-standing experience. He also proposed that youths are to be encouraged to do voluntary work in hospital and, in return, they would be given credits.

He commented on the number of security officers found at Mater Dei Hospital and questioned whether the hospital needed such big a number. Was this service being availed of to benefit a particular provider that may be close to the Nationalist government? Or was this really necessary because the Maltese people had become rude and needed to be controlled? Had the rule of the jungle taken over?

Dr Zammit criticised the government for having built a 'cathedral' of a hospital but did so through bad planning and had failed to provide adequate bedding and accommodation.

Squandering of taxpayers' money was also seen in the allocation of four €4 million to the emergency department. These would be used to buy seven new ambulances because the ambulances bought four years ago had failed. Who had evaluated the tender in the first place? It was rumoured that the ambulances procured four years ago were passed on to the government as new when these had been refurbished.

Dr Zammit said that there were about 28,000 patients on the hospital waiting list for treatment and that the long waiting time was reduced by an on-table exercise whereby patients who had died were removed from the list and those under more than one consultant were asked to choose the consultant they preferred to be treated by.

Mater Dei Hospital was wrongly managed and surgeons only operated once a week, especially so within the ENT and the orthopaedics department. The bad design of the hospital - especially with so many long corridors - had brought about a heavy waste of time which could have been used better.

The radiology department was also causing severe delays in the treatment of patients as they were providing them x-ray services only six months from referral by the consultant.

Dr Zammit said that it may be time for local councils to be roped in to introduce measures that help the elderly remain in society. The introduction of family nurses was also necessary to provide families with proper medical and social assistance.

The government should compare whether it paid to use the PET CT Scan equipment at the private sector and the purchase and operation of its own equipment. Dr Zammit named the promised oncology centre as a 'cinderella' and questioned what would happen to the Boffa Hospital which was bequeathed to the Maltese people by the English. He augured that this building remained for the general use of the Maltese people and would not pass for private use.

Dr Zammit also criticised those hospital personnel who asked patients to go home without having the blood tests ordered by the consultants, calling for this incident to be investigated by the hospital administration.

Earlier in the debate, George Vella (PL) asked what action had the government taken regarding allegations mentioned by doctor Frank Portelli and also on allegations that a person had received hundreds of liri to arrange for people to be boarded out on medical grounds.

The auditor's report for 2008 had shown that there was a laissez-faire situation, no proper supervision on government spending, no checking on overtime, waste and corruption in different ministries. He appealed to the government to wake up from its slumber and save the country millions of euro.

Dr Vella said that in its Budget speech, the government had ridiculed Parliament. It had said that Mepa's subvention would be stopped but it failed to say that this meant that Mepa would raise tariffs and permits.

The government was now speaking of Mepa reform where there was political interference in decisions taken, there were people with invest interests and others who had a conflict of interest.

The Budget, said Dr Vella had said that utility tariffs would be adjusted. It did not say that its intention was to raise these tariffs sky high. The government was so arrogant as to publish the new tariffs while discussions with the social partners were still going on. It also failed make a study on the social and economic impact of the revised rates.

The government failed to keep its electoral promise to decrease taxation citing the economic situation as an excuse. The government did not even adjust the tax bands so the cost of living increases would not be taxable.

He agreed with the measure to help small enterprises and the self-employed, but this was to come to waste with the government-induced costs they had to pay.

Dr Vella referred to the government's promise on the medicines' provision mechanism. Records showed that the government was impotent in front of the major importers.