The government will shoulder the “additional costs” of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies consumed at three hospitals run by Vitals Global Healthcare, according to the contract they signed.
The payments will be over and above the €70 million to be paid yearly to VGH for running Gozo’s General, Karin Grech and St Luke’s hospital for the next 30 years.
Clauses that were redacted when the contract, signed between the government and the company in 2015, was published last October show that the cost of the hospital beds the government will be hiring does not include all the medicinal and other pharmaceutical supplies necessary when treating patients.
The government agreed that, while the private service providers would keep working out the costs of “basic pharmaceuticals and medical supplies consumption, this will be capped at an annual consumption of €1.8 million per year at Gozo General Hospital and €300,000 per year at Karin Grech, starting only in 2018”.
The contract specifies that “any additional expenses in regards to the pharmaceuticals and medical supplies will be passed on to be settled by the Government of Malta”.
The government started hiring beds from VGH last year.
The price paid per bed includes all medical services
The contract neither has a capping on the medicinal supplies related to the 80 beds the government will be hiring at €300 a day from VGH at St Luke’s to be used for rehabilitation.
Sources close to the Health Department said that, in line with the agreement, any costs exceeding what used to be paid in 2014 would be coming out from taxpayers’ money over the next 30 years.
“We all know that the cost of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies is always on the rise,” the sources said.
On Sunday, Health Minister Chris Fearne said that the costs of the beds to be hired by the government from VGH included the cost of medicine.
Asked whether the government would be footing the bill for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies over and above the €70 million annual fee, a Health Ministry spokeswoman yesterday said the government was currently using 291 beds at the Gozo hospital and 270 beds at Karin Grech.
“The price paid per bed includes all medical services,” she said.
“That includes all investigations and surgeries, medicines prescribed, medical disposables, catering, maintenance costs, as well as the cost of salaries.”
The fee to VGH paid per bed in 2017 is comparable to the cost incurred by government for these same beds in 2016, the ministry spokeswoman added.
Following pressure by the Opposition, the Medical Association of Malta and the UĦM Voice of the Workers, the government published the contract but blanked out about 20 per cent of the clauses citing “commercially-sensitive” information.
The Auditor General is investigating the contract.
The Sunday Times of Malta has reported that VGH would be receiving about €2 billion in public funds over the next 30 years. They are bound to invest about €220 million in the three facilities.
The government insisted the costs of the deal “compared well” to what used to be paid for the three public hospitals before. It said the service to be provided by VGH would be far superior to the one offered so far.