Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/216204
9 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 NOVEMBER 2013 evere mismanagement Suppliers are asked to quote for this urgent supply, and amongst the tenderers is the late supplier. "The late supplier who knows the prices quotes a cheaper price. Being the cheapest tender the late supplier is awarded the tender. The 'urgent' tender is also not delivered and no action is taken. "I would recommend that such a supplier should be blacklisted as his tender offer was a fraudulent one being made when he knew that he could not deliver." Dalli said that procurement of medicines were placed with a very select group of agents, not manufacturers. "This restricts even further the ability to lever- and set targets, objectives and benchmarks that ensure the service is being monitored. "It's not about losing authority, but about allowing the management to work." And by allowing the management to carry out its job, this comes with Dalli's message that even waiting lists are not for hospital consultants to manage as "their own" as the hospital's, in a reference to the territoriality of firms inside Mater Dei. Former health minister Joe Cassar had completed the collation of waiting lists into an integrated IT system that was ready by 2010, that allowed to cut down on duplication and patients who had already received their treatment but were still on hospital waiting lists. But a problem that Cassar encountered was a resistance by consultants refusing to submit their own patients' list into the system. "It's not on. The waiting lists belong to the hospital. And we do have a project to tackle waiting lists, but we also need to have all the necessary information in hand." A proposal that government may soon start analysing is the possibility to tackle such waiting lists "at the hospital's periphery" – that would involve a temporary project to extend administrative work beyond Mater Dei's physical borders, Dalli says, something that would involve additional compensation for doctors and nurses. The aim is to drastically cut down waiting lists, or even eliminate long waiting times. It would include analysing the hospital's current facilities, turning to the Gozo General Hospital and also private hospitals, to focus solely on the waiting lists. Making the best use of Mater Dei's facilities will also mean addressing bed shortages, which Dalli says is not a question of bed quantity but how they are being used. "In reality, there are a lot of beds being taken up by social cases… people whose place in reality is somewhere else. And this is a problem which government has to solve." The solution likely rests in public-private partnerships, but also to have MDH adopt a stringent policy to be an acute-therapy hospital. "But this cannot happen without proper procedures in place. It means that our healthcare system requires a proper measures to cater for elderly patients requiring intensive care." No hospital reform can be of complete success without the primary healthcare reform. Dalli says primary healthcare is key, and that the health ministry had already been working in this direction. He also lauds efforts by the health minister and his shadow to move towards a bi-partisan approach on health. "Look at the success I obtained on financial services and the rent law. They were all dealt with at a bi-partisan level and they were all a success. But there was the will from both sides to work… and both sides were loyal," Dalli says. "When two sides want to collaborate, there is something that can be achieved unless they are only interested in playing to the gallery". Amid the talk, Dalli however still labours under a patina of distrust by his own political party. When he was appointed to serve as a government consultant, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil alleged that the post had been in the offing before Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit declared that no charges would be pressed against Dalli over an alleged bribery attempt on the now infamous Swedish Match case. "I accepted to contribute to something which is 'national'. And the criticism I received was that I had now become a Labour supporter. What sort of logic is that? Does it mean that Claudio Grech's bi-partisan offering would mean turning to Labour? Uniting forces is the only way forward for health… fomenting bad blood is definitely not the right way." Dalli says he is still a paid-up member of the PN, but that he has yet to understand the source of his estrangement from the party. "I've age competitive bids to generate better availability, lower prices, shorter lead-times and better terms and conditions." Inventory in hospital Dalli said his visit to the stores in the surgical area was "shocking", finding access open to anyone, concluding that there was excessive expenditure due to pilferage and waste. Dalli found expensive supplies stored in unsecured rooms; no active implant and instrument inventory on the general surgery side; instrument sterile collections unattended with outside doors commonly left open; and card readers inactivated at the first level security area. "In short, inventory control is non-existent. This has its genesis not only in inefficient financial management, but also in the fact that there is no proper stock keeping function and system in Mater Dei," Dalli said. Dalli said that MDH often loaned surgical instruments to private hospitals at no charge; three types of hip replacement implants varying in cost from €700 each to €1,200 but with the same functionality, and maintenance contracts for repairs of some equipment at €2,500 each repair: "When this was questioned, and a cost was requested for a particular repair – equivalent to that contracted – the cost was €750." John Dalli been the subject of a lot of conjecture and accusations for as long as I have been in politics, all of which, at the end of the day, remained conjectures." While Busuttil has questioned whether there was political interference in the reason why the police won't arraign Dalli, after a declaration by former commissioner of police John Rizzo that he had intended to press charges against the former commission, Dalli himself accused the PN leader of being dishonest. "What Busuttil omits is that Rizzo also told the court of interference from parliament. I would like to know what sort of interference there was. Obviously, the Opposition never refers to this. "Nobody knows what the Attorney General's advice was to Rizzo, because he said the matter was confidential and refused to comment – unless Busuttil knows what the AG said."