Ten years after Mater Dei ‘defective concrete’ claim, extension planned above existing building

The government is refusing to explain how it intends to build new facilities above existing structures at Mater Dei Hospital, despite those very buildings having been declared structurally unsound a decade ago by the administration of disgraced former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela and Mater Dei CEO Keith Attard have declined to answer detailed questions submitted by The Shift, including a request for a comprehensive list of structural interventions undertaken since 2015 to address the alleged use of “defective concrete”.

The government has suddenly had a change of heart and applied to build 10 new mental health wards on top of the existing building.

Further questions in parliament regarding whether the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS) had carried out any structural assessments prior to the application were also met with silence from the Minister.

A history of controversy

In May 2015, then-Health Minister Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat—now facing multiple corruption and money laundering allegations—publicly claimed that studies had revealed the use of substandard concrete in the hospital’s construction.

They warned that parts of the facility, including the Emergency Department, were so poorly built that they posed a safety risk.

Muscat went so far as to suggest potential legal action against Swedish contractors Skanska, estimating remedial costs at €150 million.

Citing the structural concerns, the Muscat administration had argued that vertical expansion of Mater Dei was unfeasible, using this as justification for the controversial sale of a concession involving three public hospitals—including Gozo’s only hospital—to Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH).

That deal, later transferred to Steward Health Care, was annulled by a court last year amid findings of fraud. Both Muscat and Mizzi are now among those facing criminal charges in connection with the agreement.

Silence and contradiction

Despite the alarmist claims, no substantive repairs have been undertaken on the allegedly compromised hospital structures. The government quietly dropped its legal case against Skanska in 2020, after incurring hundreds of thousands of euro in legal costs.

Yet in a striking reversal, Keith Attard, now CEO of Mater Dei, submitted a planning application late last year for an expansion of the emergency department and the construction of acute mental health wards—precisely above the structures previously described as dangerously unstable.

Neither Attard nor the Health Ministry has explained how the same structures once deemed unfit for vertical development are now considered suitable for new construction.

Their silence has only fuelled suspicion that the original claims of structural defects may have been deliberately exaggerated—or entirely fabricated—to pave the way for the now-discredited hospital concession deal.

Joe Cassar, the architect responsible for the original project, dismissed the 2015 claims as unfounded at the time they were made.

A government-issued tender for the additional wards to be built estimated the cost to be €80 million.

However, the only bid submitted—to date—from CE-BB Projects Ltd, a consortium that includes Bonnici Brothers, comes in at €140 million, nearly double the initial projection. The tender is still under evaluation.