Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1072992
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 20 JANUARY 2019 NEWS Employment part-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MINISTRY FOR HEALTH The Ministry for Health is seeking to recruit Project Officer for the Project: "ESF.02.065 - Establishing a National Platform to Address Social Determinants of Health." Project Officer Contract • Three year definite contract – 40 hours a week Qualifications and Experience • Able to communicate in the Maltese and English language. Candidates who do not possess an MQF Level 1 in the Maltese language, must attend and be successful in the assessment of the 'Maltese Language 1' course, offered by the Institute for Public Services. Attendance for such course, together with the attainment of MQF Level 1 are to be completed before confirmation of appointment, i.e. within twelve (12) months from engagement. • In possession of a recognised Bachelor's qualification at MQF Level 6 (subject to a minimum of 180 ECTS/ECVET credits, or equivalent, with regard to programmes commencing as from October 2003) in Management Studies or European Studies or Medicine or Social Sciences or Social Work or International Relations or Business Administration or Accountancy or Public Policy or Sciences, Accounts and Economics or Public Administration or Law/ Innovation or a comparable professional qualification, plus one (1) year relevant work experience. Interested persons are to submit their application together with a detailed Curriculum Vitae by not later than noon (Central European Time) of Friday, 25 th January 2019. Applicants who are already in the Malta Public Service must produce a Service and Leave Record Form (GP 47); those applying from outside the Service must produce a Certificate of Conduct issued by the Police or other competent authority not earlier than one (1) month from the date of application and state whether they have ever been in Government Service, giving details. Applications should be addressed to: Resourcing and Employee Relations Directorate, Ministry for Health, Palazzo Castellania, 15, Merchants Street, Valletta VLT 1171 Website: https://deputyprimeminister.gov.mt Fax number: +356 22992604 Email address: recruitment.health@gov.mt Applications can also be submitted through the Online Government Recruitment Portal on http://recruitment.gov.mt by the said closing time and date of this call for applications. More detailed information regarding the above job vacancy can be accessed from the Government website http://recruitment.gov.mt and Government Gazette issued on 11 th January 2019. The sole responsibility of this publication lies with the author. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Employment part-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund – European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MINISTRY FOR HEALTH The Ministry for Health is seeking to recruit Project Officer for the Project: "ESF.02.065 - Establishing a National Platform to Address Social Determinants of Health." Project Officer Contract • Three year definite contract – 40 hours a week Qualifications and Experience • Able to communicate in the Maltese and English language. Candidates who do not possess an MQF Level 1 in the Maltese language, must attend and be successful in the assessment of the 'Maltese Language 1' course, offered by the Institute for Public Services. Attendance for such course, together with the attainment of MQF Level 1 are to be completed before confirmation of appointment, i.e. within twelve (12) months from engagement. • In possession of a recognised Bachelor's qualification at MQF Level 6 (subject to a minimum of 180 ECTS/ECVET credits, or equivalent, with regard to programmes commencing as from October 2003) in Management Studies or European Studies or Medicine or Social Sciences or Social Work or International Relations or Business Administration or Accountancy or Public Policy or Sciences, Accounts and Economics or Public Administration or Law/ Innovation or a comparable professional qualification, plus one (1) year relevant work experience. Interested persons are to submit their application together with a detailed Curriculum Vitae by not later than noon (Central European Time) of Friday, 25 th January 2019. Applicants who are already in the Malta Public Service must produce a Service and Leave Record Form (GP 47); those applying from outside the Service must produce a Certificate of Conduct issued by the Police or other competent authority not earlier than one (1) month from the date of application and state whether they have ever been in Government Service, giving details. Applications should be addressed to: Resourcing and Employee Relations Directorate, Ministry for Health, Palazzo Castellania, 15, Merchants Street, Valletta VLT 1171 Website: https://deputyprimeminister.gov.mt Fax number: +356 22992604 Email address: recruitment.health@gov.mt Applications can also be submitted through the Online Government Recruitment Portal on http://recruitment.gov.mt by the said closing time and date of this call for applications. More detailed information regarding the above job vacancy can be accessed from the Government website http://recruitment.gov.mt and Government Gazette issued on 11 th January 2019. The sole responsibility of this publication lies with the author. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "The government has an agreement with a concessionaire in the same way that we have an agreement with the Freeport terminals and the Malta In- ternational Airport. The concession- aire enters into contracts with differ- ent elements of the supply chain. The government had nothing to do with it," he said. "The private sector has a right to enter into contract with whoever it likes. However, we prefer that Steward Healthcare does not adopt the model where there is a single source of pro- curement. It seems to be doing things differently than VGH but that's their call not the government's call," Mizzi said. News of the secret agreement, in which VGH investors used offshore companies to loan Technoline's sales manager Ivan Vassallo €5.14 million loan to buy off his boss, was revealed in the share purchase agreement pub- lished by The Shift News earlier in the week. This was happening while VGH were contracted to make decisions on three Maltese state hospitals that they had acquired in a 30-year concession. MaltaToday is informed that Ram Tumuluri, the Canadian CEO of Vitals Global Healthcare, had been faced with complaints about the Technoline deal from the Chamber of Commerce. In November 2017, health minister Chris Fearne also faced Tumuluri, telling him his actions were undermining the en- tire agreement. By January 2018, VGH had sold off its 30-year concession to Steward for a nominal €1, but in the meantime its se- cret owners, a consortium of Canadian, Indian and Pakistani entrepreneurs, had been setting up offshore companies to hold interests in the companies deal- ing exclusively with the hospitals. Asked whether VGH's use of offshore companies to hide their purchase of Technoline merited a criminal investi- gation, Mizzi – who himself opened an offshore company revealed in 2016 in the Panama Papers scandal – said that he had got his information on this issue from the media and could not confirm or otherwise. "I was not aware of this before the media revealed the story. The agreement is for us to improve our healthcare, and in the coming months, we will complete the Barts Medical School [in Gozo]. We will benchmark costs vis-a-vis Mater Dei to make sure that we get our value of money." MaltaToday asked the tourism minis- ter whether he personally condemned the Technoline deal now that the me- dia had enlightened him, but he only said that "multiple models of procure- ment were preferred" by government. "I cannot butt in with regards to how the private sector does its business or how it completes maintenance to its equipment. It's not the government's initiative, but we still feel that multiple models of procurement would be bet- ter in the future," he said. Mizzi: 'Private sector can enter into contracts with whoever it likes' Former VGH chief executive Ram Tumuluri Maltese retail banking not the cheapest MALTESE banks are more ex- pensive than European banks offering the same services to Maltese people, an Italian statis- tician has said. "In comparison to Maltese, Spanish, Italian and Luxem- bourg banks, normally the Maltese ones are the most ex- pensive," Dr Luca Di Gennaro Splendore, a statistical consult- ant who holds a PhD from the University of Bologna, told Mal- taToday in an analysis he car- ried out on bank account costs. According to European direc- tives, the cost for a bank trans- fer among European countries in the Single European Pay- ments Area, or SEPA, has the same cost of a national transfer. "If you are resident in an EU country you can open a bank ac- count. Banks cannot refuse your application for a bank account just because you don't live in the country where the bank is established. Then, theoretically, the cost of bank services is cru- cial. Because European people can open a bank account every- where and utilise 'free' services all over Europe," Di Gennaro Splendore said, citing as an ex- ample the roaming charges for mobile data, now made free of charge. In an analysis of three differ- ent banking transactions – the bank transfer, the annual online banking fee, and banking cards, Di Gennaro Splendore said that Maltese banks were applying the same tariff for a transfer in Malta or in Europe, even though several banks had made Euro- pean transfers, especially those made online, free of charge. "On the contrary, in Malta one pays €1 in the most important banks here. The online bank, which is an asset for a bank be- cause it does not require em- ployees carrying out the daily operations, is offered free of charge in Europe, but in some Maltese banks this is charged at €7. "And to have a bank card in Malta you need to spend €21 irrespectively of whom you're banking with... The general ten- dency of Malta banks is to be more expensive than European banks and to have the same price cost." Di Gennaro Splendore said EU transparency rules impose upon banks an obligation to disclose their banking fees, so that con- sumers can compare costs at different banks. In his comparison, Di Gennaro Splendore said banks like ING Luxembourg, ING Spain, and IWBank Italy charged nothing on national and Euro transfers online, online banking, debit cards and credit cards, except for ING Lux at €50. In Malta, BNF, HSBC, BOV and APS charged €1 on national and Eu- ro transfers online, while BOV and APS charged €7 for their online banking service. Additionally, BNF, HSBC and BOV charged €21 for their cred- it card, while BNF had a €10 charge on its debit card.