The €200 million deal or whatever one may call it has all the fingerprints of an electoral gimmick, even if it may not be such at all.

The way it was announced, first in a debate between the leaders on a TV-newspaper show, then in a series of hurriedly-set up media briefings which took place at the same time as union leaders were being briefed too, then the signing ceremony which took place amid a media blitz in Gozo followed by huge dollops of hype and euphoria – all lead to the deal being looked at with some suspicion by all those not taken in by the PM’s euphoria.

Then too, the central presence of Minister Konrad Mizzi led many to remember he had also ‘announced’ prior to the general election that a new power station would be built in just two years and this has not materialized so far. Maybe it will happen one day, but so far not even ground excavation at Delimara seems to have begun.

Other doubters, who have come to question anything and everything announced by the government more due to the government’s spin frenzy than because of an innate skeptical approach, are busy questioning the Barts – Queen Mary side of the deal.

This is understandable, considering the wide range of the interlocking company structures in the private sector of British healthcare. Besides, it does not seem that Professor Anthony Morris from Barts said much at the Wednesday event apart from saying the Gozo medical school will be delivering the same curriculum as the one in the UK.

So far, it is not clear either which Barts are we talking about, whether Barts Health, the largest hospital trust in the UK, which has had some negative publicity in recent days, or The Russell Group, Queen Mary’s and St Bartholomews (Barts), The Cambridge Industrial Trust, The Oxley Group, Intrasia Capital Oxley RE and the Oxley Capital Group.

Nor is it clear who will be investing the €200 million in the much-needed refurbishment of St Luke’s Hospital and the Gozo General Hospital and whether the new hospitals to be built in Gozo and within St Luke’s will be paid for from this sum as well.

The shopping list the government repeatedly lists as things that must be done at Mater Dei and elsewhere to cut down on the well-known faults, defects and even neglected areas of healthcare is impressive and really needs to be done (together with St Vincent de Paule Residence, which, being part of another ministry, did not get to be mentioned).

But apart from the buildings themselves, the health system is staffed by people and it would seem that while some consultations (or informations) were done before the announcement, others still need to be done. The announcement of a new medical school in Gozo has already had some alarm bells ringing because of the possibility that there could be too much demand on patients willing to be examined by the students, or because of the possibility of some brain drain as a result. Now one may argue this is skepticism in the face of bounty but one must face up to these practical considerations.

One awaits now the coming call for expressions of interest which is due to be issued within weeks and to see if there is interest in private medical care in Malta. Over the past days, we have had some mixed signals: the sale of one shareholding of a private hospital (St James), the opening of a new private hospital at Smart City, interest by US/Palestinian investors in private healthcare.

And of course, questions have to be asked how Gozo with its insularity problems will cope with private medical care. It would seem this could be the clinching argument to do away with all spurious arguments that for decades have blocked Gozo’s airstrip ambitions. Gozo is a wonderful place to stay in but damned difficult to reach on good days, let alone when the sea is stormy.

 

To conclude, the shopping list of what needs to be done in our healthcare is long and must be faced up to. The ideas in the government’s plans as have filtered down so far are good and ambitious. What is needed is clearing up misapprehensions and misconceptions. And the fleshing out of the programme until it becomes concrete reality…