Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today challenged PN leader Simon Busuttil and secretary general Chris Said to say what information the whistleblower which has come forward on the Giovanna Debono case had fed them prior to the case having come to light.

This after Dr Said this morning said that he is aware of who the whistleblower in the case is, and admitted that the contractor had spoken to both him and Dr Busuttil about payments he was still to receive for works he carried out in Gozo. Works include a five-a-side football pitch, a football pitch in Gharb and a pedestal for a statue.

Speaking in Kirkop, Dr Muscat asked why both Dr Said and Dr Busuttil hadn’t gone to report the case to the Police Commissioner the minute they received the information from the whistleblower.

Former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono denied allegations that her husband had hired contractors to carry out free works for a number of her constituents, which were paid for by ministry.

The revelations involving Dr Debono and her husband were published in MaltaToday.

Dr Muscat also asked when Dr Said and Dr Busuttil had met up with the whistleblower in question, adding that Dr Said’s admission is “a serious one”.

Muscat says Malta could become a centre of health excellence

Dr Muscat referred to this morning’s private hospital agreement announcement which will see a private healthcare facility - Joannes Paulus II: International District of Healthcare - built at SmartCity.

The €100 million private investment, through a new investment company with Maltese and Italian interests, will include a strategic partnership with Johnsons & Johnsons, one of the largest international companies in the health sector. The Universita La Sapienza is also involved, the prime minister said.

“The collaboration involves research and technology as well and the hospital will treat foreign and local sportsmen for injuries.

"The new investment will create 500 new jobs while medical students will be given access to the patients so that students can enhance their studies," Dr Muscat said.

Fifty of the hospital’s 200 rooms will be suites.

He said that this ties in well with the government’s 200 million-euro health plan investment announcement which will see new facilities built at the St Luke’s and Gozo hospitals along with a Barts medical campus.

This is a sign that the government’s vision to have a cluster of healthcare facilities is working out well while stating that the investment Malta is attracting in the health sector will create so many vacancies that foreign nurses would have to be employed since Malta hasn’t enough skilled nurses for the time-being to fill all the positions.

He said that although foreign nurses already work in Malta, Maltese and Gozitan medical professionals should not fear the fact that more foreign nurses and specialists would be employed here since “you can learn from each other.

“I would rather see the vacancies being filled by locals but this is near to impossible for now,” he explained.

Dr Muscat said that Malta could become a centre of health excellence.

School to be built in Kirkop, Education Minister says

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo started off his speech by expressing his condolences to the family of Leah Xuereb who lost her battle with cancer at the age of six years while also expressing his condolences towards the families of the students who were on an exchange programme in Barcelona but then died in a plane tragedy on returning home earlier this week.

Turning to the government’s work, he said that the government signed an agreement with St Patrick’s Salesians School so that youths who attended the school can further their studies at Mcast.

He announced that a school would be built in Kirkop which will cost seven million euros.