Opposition Leader Bernard Grech has urged the nation to stand in front of Parliament on Thursday, as it is set to debate a motion to push the government to open a new court case against the hospitals concessionaire.

Earlier this week, the Nationalist Party had tabled a motion for Parliament to condemn the now annulled deal which saw three hospitals given by concession to Vitals Global Healthcare and then Steward Health Care and to oblige the Prime Minister to take any action necessary to recover what was paid to the concessionaires.

The motion was signed by PN leader Bernard Grech and former PN leader and current MP Adrian Delia (who had filed the court case which resulted in a judgement annulling the deal).

Grech said that if the PN had the ability to open the case itself it would have already done so, "as we (the PN) have already done with the PBS case and the hospitals contract" .

He said that only the Prime minister has the ability to open the case to reimburse the funds.

The PN Leader said that he had already informed the government that the opposition would support the government "to get back the stolen €400 million from tax money".

He said that "when we (the PN) saw that time was passing and that nothing was happening, we filed a motion not only to discuss the need for the case to be opened, but also to insist that a vote for the case to be opened takes place on Thursday".

Turning to the healthcare sector in general, Grech said that two of every five patients in the emergency department  are foreigners, adding that he is not saying this to be interpreted negatively, but to show how the PL government has enabled the country's population to grow "but has not invested enough in the health sector for it to cope with the demand".

Quoting from a message he had received, Grech emphasised that a person had told him how they fell in a hole in the street in front of an elderly home and got injured. After going to the emergency department at Mater Dei, they recounted how they had to wait for hours and ended up fainting from the pain, Grech said. T

They added that after three hours they were visited by a doctor and operated on shortly after, Grech said.

Grech said that the ward where this person was placed was "full and there was no privacy."

Grech spoke of another case, and said that a person who had a heart attack in Gozo had to be brought to Malta for care.

"Maltese (and Gozitans) living in Gozo are not second class citizens" he said.

PN pushing for Public inquiry in Jean Paul Sofia's death

Grech said that the opposition is going to continue advocating for a public inquiry into Jean Paul Sofia's death.

"We (the PN) are not going to let you steal the dignity of the family. As if it wasn't enough to steal  his life (Sofia's) when they (the government)  could have prevented it by implementing reports of conditions on the place of work", he said.