Government Responds To Hospital Verdict, No Mention Of Any Political Responsibility
The Maltese government has issued an official statement in light of today’s confirmation by the appeals court that the Vitals-Steward hospital concession should be annulled.
The statement notes that the government didn’t challenge the original ruling and that it has been in control of the St Luke’s, Gozo and Karin Grech since last April.
However, it makes no mention of the court’s ruling that senior government officials had colluded with Steward and Vitals throughout, only withdrawing their support when Steward filed an appeal.
It doesn’t mention whether it will seek to recoup the public money that was given to the company over the years, nor whether any political responsibility will be shouldered.
This is the full statement:
The government of Malta refers to the Court of Appeal’s sentence following an appeal by Steward Healthcare in the case of the hospitals concession.
The government didn’t wait for the sentence to be delivered before taking control of the hospital operations. On 21st March, it informed Steward that it was carrying out a ‘controlled step-in’ and on 4th April, it took control over the Gozo General, Karin Grech and St Luke’s Hospitals.
The government made it clear that the controlled step-in and termination will take place with conditions laid out by the government. It has now been in control of these hospitals for a number of months now and has started taking and implementing a number of initiatives.
In recent months, international arbitrage was initiated at the International Chamber of Commerce, and on 14th April the government won the first stage of the procedure. In every stage of the procedure, the government will keep safeguarding the national interest from every aspect, including the financial one.
The government notes that this morning’s sentence was delivered only a few months after it filed a court application for the appeal to be listened urgently in the national interest.
While the government of Malta didn’t appeal against the sentence that was delivered by Judge Francesco Depasquale on 24th February, it also responded to Steward’s court applications and submitted ten judicial acts against their requests.
Just as the government didn’t wait for this sentence to be delivered before taking control over the hospitals, it will continue implementing its strong political vision in the health sector that focuses on the needs of the people of Malta.
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