St Luke's hospital is a symbol of 'fraud', 'carelessness' and 'theft', ADPD Leader Sandra Gauci said on Thursday.

The ADPD condemned in the strongest terms, the theft of the public hospitals and said that they had seen that they had called for investigation into it in the past.

They emphasized the repercussions of the deal before promising to better public healthcare, with emphasis on mental health, on a variety of levels.

Gauci said that the Labourite slogans of 'is- saħħa f'idejk' are empty words. She said that "St Luke's is the symbol of carelessness, fraud and theft. Obviously who defrauded and stole is ultimately decided by the courts, but the inquiry report about the privatisation of public hospitals shows how deeply the inquiry investigated. The report explains what the documents the magistrate found contain. The emails and reports that were found offer an unbelievable picture of a thoroughly planned scheme by professional fraudsters. Whoever has eyes can see that the fraud and theft is clear."

Gauci said that that superficially, Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, accused of serious crimes, must answer for their actions whatever their supporters say. She said that meanwhile the health services aren't keeping up with the demand with an ever-increasing waiting list and said that this is the product of fraud and corruption.

Gauci said that the country shouldn't have had to wait until today to know of the great muddle in the hospitals. She said that back in mid-2020 a report was published by the National Office of Verification regarding the concession of the public hospitals to Vitals. She added that in the report, the Auditor General clearly said that this was a pre-arranged concession and designed only to use public assets for enormous profit to the private sector.  

Gauci said that even back then, it was clear that star candidate and minister Konrad Mizzi was allowed to act in a way that favoured private companies over the Maltese state and government. Furthermore, she said that it was obvious that at least Muscat and the PL closed blind eyes to what was happening. She added that even back then it was clear that they were guilty of gross negligence and they had called for Mizzi and Muscat to be criminally investigated over the matter.