The St James Hospital deal with the Americans has not materialised, at least as yet, but sources who spoke to this newsroom said that the hospital’s owner and shareholders are confident the €28-million  deal will eventually go through.

According to Josie Muscat - the owner of St James Hospital – the deal was meant to be sealed in the second week of April.

In an exclusive interview with this newsroom, Health Minister Konrad Mizzi had confirmed that the American consortium, which was in talks with Dr Muscat, had shown a strong interest in the government’s €200 million Private-Public Partnership proposed health infrastructure investment for Gozo.

Dr Mizzi had said that the potential buyers of St James Hospital in Sliema – a group of US businessmen under the umbrella of the HTIC consortium – approached the government with a proposal to manage Mater Dei Hospital and other government hospitals. But since the government did not intend handing Mater Dei’s operations to private investors, the government encouraged the investors to submit their proposal in the Request for Proposals which was still to be issued at the time.

The minister had said that the government had been approached by a number of foreign companies – such as insurance companies, healthcare fund companies, specialist centres and hospital management firms – before it announced the €200 million potential public-private partnership investment for the Gozo and St Luke’s Hospitals.

At the time, this newsroom reported that it appeared highly likely that the St James investors will be the front-runners in the St Luke’s and Gozo Hospitals deal.

The Request for Proposals has been issued and the deadline for submissions is 19 May.