Dr Farrugia said that while Lm110,000 was spent on the modernisation of the health centres in 1999, just less than 10 per cent of it was spent last year. This showed that the government was not giving enough importance to this sector, he said.

He said many wards at St Luke’s Hospital were sub-standard, adding that in some cases, patients were also left in the corridors and sometimes also died there. Some wards had to do without swabs, bandages and surgical gloves for a number of weeks since there were none available.

On the lack of medicines in hospitals, Dr Farrugia said this was becoming increasingly common with some patients even asking their relatives to go to buy medicines since they were not available from the hospital’s stores.

Dr Farrugia said that in 1999, the government spent Lm1 million on the modernisation and upgrading of St Luke’s Hospital. Last year, the investment was reduced to just Lm170,000. On the other hand, he said, the government increased its expenses by 12 per cent on receptions and 34 per cent on expenses related to trips abroad.

Dr Farrugia also asked whether it was true that the government was planning to reduce the budget for MMDNA nurses. If this is reduced, the load on St Luke’s Hospital will increase drastically.

On the Mater Dei Hospital, Dr Farrugia said the original plan was that the hospital would have started to be used at the beginning of next year. However, the hospital is still in its construction stage and is expected to be ready by 2010. In Britain, a hospital which is 50 per cent larger than the Mater Dei was completed in just four years.