In the coming weeks, the government will present a rehabilitation project that will restore parts of St Luke's Hospital, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said in Parliament on Tuesday.

He said that the PN's plan was to turn the old hospital into offices and flats.

Speaking about the National Audit Office's report regarding the Steward Health Care deal, Fearne said that he was the one who had first requested the Auditor General to look into the hospitals concession, and quoted a line from the recent report, acknowledging that the Minister for Health was sidelined from any significant involvement in the concession.

Fearne defended his role and that of the Cabinet as being kept in the dark by the actions of Konrad Mizzi in negotiating the €100 million default for Steward.

"I may have been kept in the dark in the past on this deal... but now it is my ministry that is leading the salvage operation on this, and the three hospitals have been under the government's wing since 5 April 2023," he said.

Fearne also said that the international arbitration process vis a vis government and Steward has started, the urgent first part of which was won by government.

He said that while the rules dictate that the current discussions cannot yet be revealed, the process is not being done behind his back.

Fearne admitted that the NAO report details unpleasant things on part of government, but assured that when it comes to the Health Ministry, the standards, monitoring and quality of the three hospitals remained up to standards, saying that the Auditor General only had words of praise.

Fearne also said that he and Abela had only first found out about the €100 million clause after discussions in 2020 were held contemplating the termination of the concession. The clause impeded government from terminating the agreement as it would have been subjected to the penalty.

He also said that the Health Ministry had spent years resisting making payments with regards to the original contract with Vitals, and only paid these payments when the State Advocate clearly stated that despite the agreement being done without the consent of the Health Ministry, government was still obliged to pay Steward Health Care.

Fearne said that government has reacted after the court sentence, by requesting for the Stewards appeal to be decided urgently, through the international arbitration process, by keeping the same workers working at the hospitals, as well as through working on a tender on the latest MRI apparatus in the Gozo General Hospital.

 "The report shows shortcomings, but government was determined, and continued giving the best health service to the public," Fearne concluded.