The Health Ministry has commissioned a fresh €2.3 million masterplan for the redevelopment of St Luke’s Hospital and the Gozo General Hospital, despite the government having already paid more than €900 million to Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) and Steward Health Care for identical plans that were never delivered.
The ministry, led by Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela, issued the direct order, closed within four days of its publication, through which Italconsult SPA is expected to be awarded the contract to provide “masterplanning services” for both hospitals.
This development arrived shortly after the government confirmed it had failed to recover some €480 million in arbitration proceedings before the International Chamber of Commerce, linked to the now-defunct VGH/Steward concession, which was declared fraudulent by the Court of Appeal earlier this year.
Health Ministry sources expressed surprise at the procurement, noting that both hospitals already had master plans drawn up by VGH and Steward during the concession period.
These plans were formally submitted to the Planning Authority in 2016 and 2019, forming part of the nearly €900 million paid out of public funds to the concessionaires, which had pledged to invest €400 million and deliver upgraded, fully functioning facilities within three years.
The Health Ministry has not replied to questions on why new plans were required and why the government is financing the same work again.
The original Gozo General Hospital plans – submitted through application PA07491/16 by the now-defunct Vitals Global Healthcare – envisaged a 400-bed hospital intended partly for medical tourism.
The application was later withdrawn after VGH ran out of funds and transferred its shares to Steward Health Care, with the involvement of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat. Despite the hundreds of millions paid, no real work was ever initiated on the plan for Gozo.
A similar fate befell St Luke’s.
A 2019 masterplan submitted as PA01635/20 proposed transforming the hospital into a “health village”, including significant demolition and redevelopment into a modern medical complex.
No progress was made before Steward was forced to exit Malta, following a court case brought by Opposition MP Adrian Delia that resulted in the concession being annulled as “fraudulent”.
In the run-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections, Health Minister Abela announced that the government would begin work on a new 400-bed acute care hospital in Gozo.
No development application has been filed with the Planning Authority to date, and no on-site works have begun.
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These amateurs have no shame! Wasting Euro900 million of taxpayers money besides the millions spent for the ICC Tribunal, now they intend to spend another Euro2.5 million for a plan.
Ain’t that just great! Having flushed millions down the drain the Minister flushes another 2.3 million. After all who cares? It’s not his money; it’s ours. All they have to do is play around with semantics to try to convince us that it’s the real deal.
Dawn Kolla pezza wahda irid jaddu iz ZMIEN bil POPLU (nofs il POPLU)
NoFs il POPLU GAHAN HUX JEKK ZAMMIT LEWIS???
Mela morna arbitru biex nirkupraw 450 miljun euro u ma hadna xejn u tant morna fair deal li ghanda intuhom 5 miljuni ohra u barra lispejes ta l avukati . Hawn xi uman li ghandu naqra sens jista jemen lil bobby .imma hawn xi erba gahan li jemnuh basta toghom dak ic cek
Serqa bhal din, miljuni min fuq sahhitna w l poplu ghadu jcapcap! Lanqas biss jafu x gara w kif serquna!
Jiena nemmen li dan huwa kollu bullshit , St.lukes qatt ma hu ser jerga jsirr sptar dak issir lukanda ghamlu ir-ricerka taghkom u taraw jekk dan il hsieb tieghi huwiex reali.