Labour’s main spokesman for health, Michael Farrugia claimed yesterday that it was thanks to the 1996-1998 MLP government that people will be able to benefit from a new public hospital that will replace St Luke’s Hospital.

Had it been up to ex-Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, the country would have had a public hospital split in two, said Dr Farrugia.

It would have been a 480-bed hospital at Tal-Qroqq that would have been built by the government and managed by the friends of friends of the San Raffaele Foundation, a foreign company that would have been paid from the Maltese citizens’ taxes.

Dr Farrugia added that it was the Labour government that had changed this concept and, following extensive consultation, had worked on the plan to build a new hospital.

Dr Fenech Adami, Dr Gonzi and their friends had criticised – and still criticise – the Labour government for its decision, said the Labour MP.

He added that it had been expected that, during the past few days, Dr Gonzi would have apologised for the inconsistency and lack of agreement in the Nationalist clan over the hospital. Instead, the Nationalists are trying to take credit for the concept behind the new hospital and the fact that it will be the country’s general hospital.

Dr Farrugia said people would have expected Dr Gonzi and Health Minister Louis Deguara to apologise for not keeping their promise that the new hospital would receive its first patients by 2003 and that all hospital services would be offered at Mater Dei by 2005.

Moreover, people also expect an apology from Dr Gonzi, Dr Deguara and the parliamentary secretary in the Finance Ministry over the excessive final cost of the hospital and the fact that this did not correspond with the original estimate, said the Labour spokesman.

He added that apologies were also expected from Dr Fenech Adami and Dr Gonzi regarding a number of scandals in the whole Mater Dei construction process.

Lastly, said Dr Farrugia, people expected an apology from Dr Gonzi and Dr Deguara for not having invested in the necessary human resources and other services that would contribute to the efficient running of the new hospital.