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Julian Manduca
Long suffering residents of central Malta and the owners of boats at Msida may be breathing a slight sigh of relief as the marathon process for the issue of a replacement to the St Luke’s incinerator has started again.
The incinerator which has been malfunctioning for several years and burns hospital waste including body parts may in fact never be replaced.
The saga has dragged on so long – more than five years - that the government has now decided to go for new equipment that will go to the new hospital at Mater Dei.
In August of 2003 a tender process that was awarded by government was brought to a sudden halt after revelations in MaltaToday showed the manufacturers of the chosen equipment to be involved in a fraud scandal.
In January of this year, health minister Dr Louis Deguara had told this newspaper that “The Ministry of Health restarted the process for issuing a fresh call for tenders for the replacement of the hospital incinerator the moment that Sarrebico informed the Director of Contracts that it was unable to honour its commitment,” ie last August. The minister added: “The Division of Health has submitted to the Director of Contracts the tender documentation for the latter to proceed for a fresh call for tenders.”
It has now been brought to MaltaToday’s notice that the Contracts Department has issued a “prequalification questionnaire document for the supply, installation and commissioning of a Clinical Waste Decontamination Plant - Department of Health.”
The questionnaire was to be made available on any working day from the contracts department, but when MaltaToday went to pick up a copy none were available. Interest in the process must have been great as 73 copies were picked up, leaving none at the department.
MaltaToday is however informed that the questionnaire makes it clear that the government will be considering all types of equipment as a replacement and not just microwave and autoclaving, the two preferred technologies when the tender was last issued.
In a strange twist, after it was clear that the company previously chosen to provide alternative equipment – Sanitec - was clearly not in a position to supply, a letter appeared in The Times claiming the contrary.
While most of the Sanitec top bosses languished in prison last year a representative of the company wrote last month to say: “Sanitec Industries has repeatedly declared its willingness and capability to supply state-of-the-art microwave disposal technology to Malta within eight weeks of receipt of an order.”
That statement stands in direct contrast to statements made last year by former president Joseph Delloiacovo who wrote a letter to various clients saying: “this battle has been ongoing for more than a year, and has, unfortunately, devastated the company’s ability to continue operations. At the moment the future of Sanitec is unclear. However, due to serious funding problems, our operation in New Jersey will have to be shut down as of February 14, 2003.
“We continue to believe in the technology, but over these past 18 months, it has been impossible to respond to you our suppliers, friends and clients, in a manner that was up to our very high standards.”
When MaltaToday contacted journalist Jim McNair who has been writing about the activities of Sanitec in the Cincinatti Enquirer for at least a year, and asked whether it was likely that Sanitec could provide the service that the Malta hospitals would need. McNair said: “It doesn't appear that anyone connected with any permutation of Sanitec is in a position to deliver and support a machine outside of the US. Even if they were, there's still the question of technology ownership and market rights that is being disputed in court.”
MaltaToday had revealed how Sanitec senior officials and owners George Fiorini, Terry Quatkemeyer and Stephen Ventre all ended up facing fines and prison sentences because of their involvement in failed investment schemes.
The residents of Msida, Pieta, Guardamangia and surrounding areas and the boat owners in Msida creek will continue to have suffer the bellowing black smoke from the long malfunctioning incinerator that does not reach the required temperatures to ensure the hospital waste burns properly.
julian@newsworksltd.com
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