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MT 21 January 2018

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maltatoday SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 Interview 15 Parliament is currently debating the controversy surrounding a proposed sale of the Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) concession – to own and manage three Maltese hospitals – to an as-yet unconfirmed third party. Medical Association of Malta's president Dr MARTIN BALZAN does not mince his words on the subject: the agreement with Vitals is 'flawed' and 'suspicious', and must be investigated priority. This is not one or two mil- lion euro. This is 2,000 million euro at stake, in a flawed deal. Now: we have the chance, through this good clause, to recoup what might have been lost. We feel that it is a ques- tion of both national interest and credibility, that the AG finishes his work. There is no rush... Is there any legal or contractual obligation for government to await the AG's inquest before consenting to the sale? No. There is no obligation, as such. But if we are talking of credibility and national interest... that is the way to do it. At least, in our opinion. And there is a precedent, in the case of Old Mint Street, where the AG said: 'This deal is flawed, and tax-payers' money was not spent reasonably'. And there was a legal way out, too. The Prime Minister went out of his way to reme- dy the situation, in the name of cred- ibility and the national interest. We feel this deal, too, is flawed... You've made MAM's position very clear, but a lot of it is based on the assumption that the Vitals deal has completely fallen through, and that it is by now impossible to salvage. Is that true, however? What if Minister Fearne announces some unexpected breakthrough tomorrow? [shrugs] Minister Fearne is now saying that 'Steward Healthcare is the real thing'. If you invert the argument, everything else – Al- liance, Oxley, etc. – was not real. The reality is that Vitals never showed it had the necessary capi- tal. Everything it has done, it did with the money of government's advance payments.... If you add all your arguments together, they suggest that the declared intention – i.e., to make money out of medical tourism – was all along a ruse. What do you think they were really after? Converting the properties into hotels or apartments? That's what the Opposition is claiming: that there was all along an intention for the project to fail. No, that is not our position. Medi- cal tourism failed everywhere else it was tried. It does not mean they did not try to succeed. But we do think the contract is flawed and suspicious... and that, since the government itself agreed with this AG investigation, then, in the name of credibility and national interest, before giving consent to a sell-out, let's see if there is a bet- ter way according to the Auditor General.... So far, we have talked only about the collapse of the Vitals deal. What about the effect on the national health service itself? How would a worst-case scenario pan out in practice, seeing as we have now sold three hospitals – including the only one in Gozo – and might not be able to get them back? First of all, the idea of this PPP was 'capital investment'. So far we have seen no capital investment; we've seen excavation works in Gozo, which we've described as a giant hole or crater... and at St Luke's, there was some superfi- cial cleaning of the facade. We haven't seen any real investment. As regards management, we have to be objective. According to the contract published on Daphne's website, there was a 600,000 euro yearly agreement with Partners International... and Partners in- ternational have held some local courses, mostly for nurses, some for doctors, on patient safety.... and some staff from Gozo have been sent to do training in Boston, USA. And they recruited some doctors. I'm being objective. But we find it very difficult to tally this up with 70 million euro a year. The money going out, and what is being done on the ground... I'm not saying it's zero. Some work was done. But I am sure there is a big discrepancy between what is being paid, and what is being served. credibility and national interest

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