Shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg today questioned the timing of the government’s announcement tied to its 200-million-euro private sector investment plan due to the fact that the local council elections were around the corner.

Speaking in parliament, Ms Buttigieg also asked whether the agreement with Barts Medical School is only about the opening of a branch in Malta since other branches already exist on the island linked to foreign universities. “Today’s news conference held by the government to announce the agreement was on a big scale, she said. “We hope it’s more than just the opening of a branch," she said.

Ms Buttigieg also questioned whether the health sector as a whole will be privatised, including Mater Dei.

She said that the Opposition should be given details about the €200 million health investment plan. She said that she had serious doubts to whether the government's announcement is realistic. Ms Buttigieg asked if the government has the cash in hand to have announced such a massive investment. "The electorate will forgive you if you don't build the new power station but if you take the people for another ride by promising them a health-related project and then failing to implement it, they will never forgive you," she told Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.

Parliament today is discussing a motion, initially presented by MP Claudio Grech when he was shadow health minister, calling for an amendment to the Legal Notice tied to the patients’ rights EU cross border directive which currently excludes Maltese patients from seeking private health care in Malta.

As things stand, Maltese patients can benefit from private health care in other countries in the EU, which is subsidised by the State, but excludes them from turning to private hospitals in Malta in the event they do not get the required treatment from the State, due to long waiting lists, among other issues. A vote is expected to be taken on Monday.

Former health minister Godfrey Farrugia said his dream became a reality today when the government announced its health sector investment plan and the opening of a medical school in Gozo .He said that he had contributed to this becoming a reality.

He recalled that both him and Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had gone overseas to seek a medical school since “we believed in Malta’s health care professionals". 

Dr Farrugia also welcomed the health campus proposal – referring to the Gozo hospital planned project. He said that people could not understand him when, in the past, he used to say that the Gozo hospital would eventually be turned into a five-star hospital.

Initially, the announcement that an agreement had been reached between the two sides had been made in February 2014 by then Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia during a public consultation meeting held at Mater Dei Hospital.

Health Minister says PL's electoral manifesto includes same proposal as PN's

Dr Mizzi said that the same proposal is included in the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto and intends implementing it but it’s a process which will happen gradually, referring to the nature of the PN's motion.

This after PN whip David Agius asked Dr Mizzi if he agrees with the motion presented by the Opposition.

Mr Agius reacted by questioning why the government had left it so long to implement its electoral pledge when the PN presented its motion a year ago. 

On today's health sector investment announcement, Dr Mizzi said that the partnership is a public-private one and workers at St Luke's and Gozo General Hospital will retain their jobs. He said that a teaching school - Barts - will automatically lead to an improvement in the health services offered. He said that the project will lead to 1,200 jobs, comprising clerks, carers, nurses and more. 

PN MP Frederick Azzopardi said that the government was only diverting attention on the current problem of patients in corridors when it pinned the blame on the previous administration each time the issue of patients in corridors cropped up.

Fearne says Gozo hospital was infested with cockroaches

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said that the motion the PN speaks of is tied to the issue of waiting lists.

He said that when Labour was elected to office, it found a long list of patients’ waiting lists, adding that this government shortened the waiting lists by more than half.

But he said that the problem of waiting lists was not the only problem this government inherited. There was another issue: medicines out of stock.

“We have also managed to solve the issue of out of stock medicines,” he pointed out.

He went on to say that the government inherited worse problems – Mater Dei which is far too small to deal with the influx of patients - leading to patients having to be placed in corridors.

Dr Fearne said that the government was dealing with the issue and intends adding 300 additional beds.

Turning to the new oncology hospital, he said that the building was in shell form. But now the project has neared its final stages.

On the Gozo hospital, he said that it was infested with cockroaches so the PN in Opposition has nothing to brag about when it states that it made changes to the hospital during the previous legislature.

On Barts medical school, he said that it is a prestigious school, as was rightly pointed out by Dr Farrugia, and it produced five Nobel laureates.

He said that the name Barts will put us on the medical tourism map where services will be offered to tourists against payment. He emphasised that health care for locals will remain free.

On the request for proposals tied to the 200-million-euro private sector investment, he said that the investment will help Malta expand its health services.

On the motion presented by the PN, he said that it seems as though the PN discovered something new when it emerged with the proposal. He said that the PL had pledged the same thing in its manifesto.