The hospital privatisation contracts should have been made public in their entirety right from the very beginning, and the government cannot keep hiding behind the redacted versions being issued.

The deal that the government had made with Vitals Global Healthcare for St Luke’s Hospital, Karin Grech Hospital and the Gozo General Hospital, where VGH was entrusted with the provision of healthcare services of these hospital, was a very suspicious deal in itself, given the outcome.  Konrad Mizzi was Health Minister at the time this deal was struck.

VGH sold the 30-year-concession around only two-years into it to Steward Healthcare then took over.

However the official contracts were never fully published by the government, who were always adamant that they could not be published due to commercially sensitive information.

This has been and will continue to be completely unacceptable, and unveils the charade of so called ‘transparency’the government claims to uphold.

Just recently, in the Ombudsman’s report for 2018, Health Commissioner Charles Messina said the Ombudsman had, in 2016, requested the contract signed between the ministry and Vitals, but the ministry refused to submit the full text and instead sent a redacted version which was also tabled in Parliament.

“When Vitals passed on the concession to Steward Healthcare, this Office again asked for a copy of the new contract but no reply was forthcoming. In January 2019, extracts of the contract were leaked and published in the local media and once again the full version was requested but the Ministry did not comply even though the Ombudsman Act gives such a right. The Commissioner for Health is of the opinon that the authority of the Ombudsman is being undermined,” Messina wrote.

What makes this situation even more serious is the obvious fact that Gozo only has one hospital. Any contract regarding that hospital, given that it is a crucial public service provider to the island, should be made completely available to the public.

There have been many other contracts regarding essential entities for the country in the past kept partially hidden from the press, and in a number of these, keeping such information hidden is wrong.

The government can continue to argue commercial sensitivity, but the truth is that when it comes to contracts involving public entities and public land, the public are the real shareholders, and should be able to have access to such important documentation.

Opposition Leader Adrian Delia has taken the government and VGH to court over the situation, asking for the contract to be cancelled and that the three hospitals to be returned to the public. His argument was that VGH had failed to adhere to the obligations laid down in the contract.  Indeed the government’s handling of this entire deal has, from day one, invited criticism and fanned the flames of concern.

The Ombudsman’s report was not all bad however. “During 2018 there has been a notable improvement regarding replies from the Ministry for Health. In all 111 cases were closed. However this should not lead to any relaxation because 41 cases were still pending on 31 December 2018,” the report continues. This at least shows an increase in cooperation between the ministry and the Ombudsman, which is always a good thing, but more needs to be done.

Certain recommendations however have not been taken up by the government, the Ombudsman noted, relating to discriminatory/illegal protocols (pending since 2013), and the refund of expenses incurred by patients for purchase of medicines to which they were entitled. “The non-implementation of the recommendations mentioned above which have been pending since the year 2013, is a very serious matter because they were meant to solve the discrimination and illegality created. The patients are purely and simply being oppressed.” This was explained in detail in a report sent to the Minister for Health, the Prime Minister and Parliament in August 2015. Some of the Protocols refer to cancer drugs.

Indeed in response, the health ministry said that the ministry "constantly ensures that the best possible health service is provided free of charge. New medicinal products have been introduced in recent years and the schedules of medicines that are provided by the NHS is constantly updated.The ministry went on to argue that the process of approval for the inclusion of new medicinal products is carried out by a committee established by the Health Act and approves such products, subject to protocols, that may be issued according to law. “The process is not discriminatory”

The Ombudsman generally has the public at heart when making such recommendations, so perhaps the government should make more of an effort to ensure that best practices are being followed, and perhaps sit down with the Ombudsman to iron out the issues in this regard.