Steward Healthcare will be able to sell off Barts Medical School to a private real estate company thanks to a memorandum of understanding signed under the watchful eyes of disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and minister Konrad Mizzi. 

According to a report by Malta Today, Steward would have been able to transfer the premises under “a separate and distinct contract” that would not breach the controversial concession to operate three state hospitals. 

Steward was allegedly planning to sell the property to Medical Properties Trust, a major player in medical real estate, who would have then leased the property back to Steward.

Medical Properties Trust has entered a joint venture with Steward Owner Ralph De La Toure and other Steward executives.

Steward Healthcare was brought in to save the concession for the Gozo General Hospital, St Luke’s Hospital and Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital from Vitals Global Healthcare, who was forced to sell off their operations just 21 months after starting amid growing financial debt, which stood at €36 million by the end of 2017.

An un-redacted contract revealed that taxpayers were paying VGH around €188,000 a day (€70 million a year) to provide hospital beds to the state, €1.2 million a year for the Barts medical school and a further €1 million for a helicopter service.

The deal has been mired in corruption claims, particularly given that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding months before a request for proposals was even announced.

Steward Healthcare was brought in to replace VGH, with the company unable to pay its employ. Steward was given certain assurances by the government, namely from Mizzi and Muscat when they were brought in to save the failing concession.

This included a massive €100 million buyout should the concession be rescinded and a secret €8 million bank guarantee (which has since been waived).

The deal has created massive gaps in operations – with Steward staff being paid less than their state counterparts for doing the exact same job. Meanwhile, the government continues to fork out millions for a service that is not too dissimilar from Malta’s national health service.

It was recently revealed that Muscat was paid €60,000 from Accutor AG and Spring X Media, two Swiss companies owned by Pakistani lawyer Wasay Bhatti, in the early months of 2020, shortly after his resignation as Prime Minister.

Matthew Caruana Galizia has claimed that Muscat was initially set to receive a €540,000 contract until a UBS bank closed down the company’s accounts.

What do you think of the clause?