After receiving at least three invitations to visit Mater Dei Hospital, Labour Leader Alfred Sant has finally accepted to visit the new hospital.

Dr Sant had been invited to attend the inauguration of Mater Dei Hospital on 29 June but failed to turn up. Health Minister Louis Deguara had also publicly invited the Opposition to visit Mater Dei Hospital during a Parliamentary sitting.

Writing in l-orizzont earlier this year, Mater Dei spokesperson Chris Scicluna had stated: “Invitation letters have been sent to trade unions, old peoples’ homes, professional associations, political parties (PN, MLP, AD), voluntary organisations, band clubs, sports associations and non-governmental associations among others.”

Now, according to sources, Dr Sant has indicated he will visit Mater Dei this week.

Ironically, Dr Sant’s visit comes at a time when Labour’s media have relentlessly embarked on yet another campaign to tarnish the Mater Dei state-of-the-art facilities.

One will have to wait for Dr Sant’s visit at Mater Dei Hospital to evaluate his reactions to the new hospital and its facilities, although praise is probably not on Dr Sant’s mind.

Meanwhile, the migration to Mater Dei Hospital is already underway with the first phase of migration running very smoothly and ahead of schedule. One hundred administrative and managerial employees migrated to the Administration Block at Mater Dei late last month.

As this newspaper revealed earlier, Mater Dei will offer its first outpatient services this week, starting with Parentcraft followed by Clinical Psychology, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and the Customer Care Unit, which will continue to operate both at St. Luke’s and at Mater Dei till the end of the migration process.

Government plans to conclude the migration process by the end of this year when Mater Dei is expected to be fully functional.