Almost half the cabinet, including the Prime Minister, squeezed into the photos and film footage of the signing of a deal to open a second medical school in Malta. But one man was squeezed out: Godfrey Farrugia, who, last year, when health minister, had actually announced that such a deal was in the offing.

Even the photographic evidence reveals the game of smoke and mirrors being played by the government on this issue.

Let’s be clear about one thing. The PN’s criticism is not about the signing of a deal with a foreign university to open a branch here. Nor is it about the private investment in the health sector.

We are, after all, the party that opened the doors of education, health and private investment in our country. We are not the ones who ruined higher education, drove our doctors away and closed down all private hospitals in Malta.

Our criticism has to do with the lack of transparency, government confusion about details, and the strong stench of spin.

Joseph Muscat first tried to sell the matter as a settled €200 million investment deal. In that case, however, why did Muscat say that government will be issuing a call for expressions of interest?

If, on the other hand, it’s a done deal, then Muscat simply lied by presenting the €200 million as in the bag.

Why would he do that? He’s facing a referendum and local elections that he was not keen on. It’s pre-election spin.

Health is too important to be played around with in such a manner. Take the numbers involved. To create a health system parallel to the existing one, our country would need some 200 doctors, 500 nurses and hundreds of allied health professionals.

This obviously means that the government must employ health care professionals from all over the world. That needs careful preparation by a government notorious for incompetence and missed deadlines, especially by Health Minister Konrad Mizzi.

Medical students are concerned about how a second school would work in Malta. Where would Barts students take their clinical training? Will the new hospital facilities in Gozo and St Luke’s be ready by 2018? If not, would Barts students join the Malta Medical School students and visit patients at Mater Dei Hospital?

You would think the health ministry would take the issues a bit more seriously than they have. But Muscat, Mizzi, and the health parliamentary secretary, Chris Fearne, announced different numbers for the number of beds that will be created.

Gozitans, in particular, are perplexed. According to an interview published in The Malta Independent on Sunday, Mizzi has said that only 125 beds in Gozo will be for public use in the acute hospital setting. Fearne gave a higher number.

Games with numbers are not new with this administration. When debating this issue in Parliament, Mizzi smirked constantly as he played with words, numbers and details. It’s as though he thinks the issue is all about a little game he plays with me. It’s actually about people’s lives.

In reply to my question on how many people died in the Mater Dei Hospital corridors between January 2014 and March 2015, Konrad Mizzi declared that there were four patients. I know for a fact that the number of people who died in the undignified environment of a hospital corridor is more than four because various families have contacted me to inform me about their trauma. Minister Konrad Mizzi should at least have the decency to tell the truth.

Sometimes he does blurt it out. In answer to another of my questions, he declared that 137 patients died of chest infections during the same period.

Who knows, then, perhaps there was a point to my earlier criticism that the government had made a hash of flu vaccines.

Then there was the large media event meant to be held this week but mysteriously postponed. It was to be held in front of St Luke’s Hospital: A large tent, well-lit buildings and strict instructions not to clear or clean any part of the site. Another botched self-imposed deadline.

Health is too important for gimmicks and childish smirks. Muscat and Mizzi say there are certain private investors will line up to upgrade hospitals for a win-win deal for the public and private sectors.

Well, they were certain about the deadlines and details of their power station, too. Where is it now?

Taking the country for a ride about a new power station is one thing. Playing with people’s lives is another.

As I told Konrad Mizzi in Parliament the other day, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!”