The outsourcing of emergency services is being done without a plan, Nationalist Party MP Adrian Delia said Monday, in reaction to the government extending the deadline for proposal submissions by a week.

The deadline is now set for this Friday, 26 July, at 10am. It was originally set for 19 July.

Jo Etienne Abela, the Health Minister, had said when this call was originally announced that the decision was being made for the benefit of patients in order to address the overcrowding problem in Mater Dei’s emergency department.

On Monday, Delia said that the fact the Health Minister had to extend the deadline for the call, which was “opened with urgency”, is a confirmation of what the PN has been saying, which is that this outsourcing was being done without any plan and that this was caused by a failure on the government’s part, even in this sector and in this particular case.

The PN concluded by saying that it is once again calling for decisions about the future of “this ever-important sector” to be made with long-term planning in mind for the good of the Maltese people.