He said that while the government set the 2003 target at Lm80 million, this had increased to Lm120 million, even after reducing the amount absorbed by the government during the drydocks restructuring exercise.

He added that in the first eight months this year, the deficit has already risen to Lm112 million.

In spite of this financial situation, he said, the Prime Minister had given his authorisation for a board member of the Foundation for Medical Services to be paid Lm43 an hour for being part of the negotiating team discussing the cost of the Mater Dei project.

This, said Dr Mangion, was only one example of the waste of financial and human resources on the part of the Nationalist Government.