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WATCH: Opposition Leader Tears Into Konrad Mizzi As Controversial Hospital Contract Set To Be Reversed

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Left: Adrian Delia addresses a press conference, Right: Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi

Opposition leader Adrian Delia has accused Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi of negotiating a deal that was “destined to fail” when selling three Maltese hospitals to Vitals Global Healthcare.

Delia held a press conference this evening after Health Minister Chris Fearne confirmed with Lovin Malta that Steward Health Care, which bought the hospital concession from VGH last year, intends to scrap a deal which granted local medical supplier Technoline exclusive procurement rights for the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals.

“Both Steward Health Care and I don’t believe in a model of procurement that grants exclusivity to a single company,” Fearne told Lovin Malta. “Steward is working to reverse the [Technoline] contract.”

Although this deal was negotiated between VGH and Technoline, Delia claimed that Fearne was once again criticising Mizzi, who was Health Minister when VGH purchased the three hospitals.

“When Steward bought the concession, Fearne praised them as the real deal and requested the National Audit Office to investigate the VGH contract,” Delia said. “Now Fearne has publicly declared that a contract related to the VGH deal should be reversed.”

Signed in July 2017, the deal angered Technoline’s competitors, as they were forced to submit bids for equipment of those three hospitals to a direct competitor, giving it inside knowledge of their own prices.

The deal also raised eyebrows given that it was signed only a few months after Technoline’s former manager Ivan Vassallo bought out the firm’s original shareholders. The saga took another twist yesterday when The Shift News revealed that VGH had used a Jersey company to loan Vassallo €5.14 million in December 2016, a few months before he started buying out Technoline’s shareholders.

In his press conference this evening, Delia also referred to The Shift’s report into how the concession transfer saw Steward agree to pay €1.4 million to a Dubai company whose ownership is unknown.

“The deal was destined to fail from the start,” the PN leader said. “Vital was allowed to transfer a contract worth over €1000 million to a third party in a deal that saw millions of euro pass to Dubai companies.”

He also accused the government of trying to hinder a court case he had filed demanding the re-nationalisation of the three hospitals by requesting it be split into separate lawsuits.

In his press conference, Delia was flanked by Opposition whip Robert Cutajar and MP Mario Galea, but shadow health minister Stephen Spiteri was somehow absent.

READ NEXT: We Spoke To The Man Who Made A Killing Off Vitals Deal And This Is How It Went

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]

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