Karl Schembri
Government has scrapped former health minister Louis Deguara’s plans to move cancer treatment from Boffa Hospital in Floriana to Zammit Clapp Hospital, and will instead build a new €24 million extension to Mater Dei instead.
The decision was announced by Parliamentary Secretary for Health Joe Cassar in Parliament last Friday, confirming revelations made by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat in his reply to the budget speech on Monday.
Finally spilling the beans about what had been kept under wraps by Gonzi’s new Cabinet, Cassar said the decision had been taken after the election, although it was never made public before Muscat’s speech.
“This was one of the first decisions we took since I joined the Social Policy Minister (John Dalli),” Cassar said, adding that every decision taken before was being reconsidered.
“We had decided that every capital investment had to be reviewed to make sure that the decisions taken were taken responsibly and were financially sustainable,” Cassar said, shedding doubts about the previous administrations which had taken 15 years to build Mater Dei Hospital and had sidelined the former health minister.
Cassar’s statement also comes in the wake of a series of announcements by Dalli’s ministry to change or scrap altogether previous decisions, including plans to extend the Addolorata Cemetery, the Housing Authority’s equity sharing scheme, and the pharmacy of your choice scheme.
Deguara and Gonzi had repeatedly said Zammit Clapp will be transformed into a special Oncology Centre, and was also included as an electoral pledge in the PN’s programme. The transfer was also part of the migration plan, with Deguara claiming that Zammit Clapp would be capable of accommodating 60 beds – twice the current number at Boffa.
Deguara had also announced that the rehabilitation facility at Zammit Clapp would be transferred to a new building at the St Vincent de Paule grounds in Luqa. Cassar stopped short of saying what would become of the Boffa and Zammit Clapp hospitals.
Cassar justified the decision saying it made “clinical sense” having an oncology centre next to the general hospital, equipped with facilities such as the radiology department. In his bid to pre-empt criticism at Gonzi’s past administration of having overlooked such a detail, Cassar lauded his predecessors for their “foresight” in having thought of preparing excavations and laying out of service panels for potential future expansion.
“This is the best solution,” Cassar said.
Still, the way the decision had been shrouded in secrecy and not even mentioned in the budget speech cast doubts about Gonzi’s previous Cabinet decisions.
“Labour is totally in favour of the best investment in the care of cancer patients, but we do question government’s competence,” the MLP leader said. “After all the millions spent in building Mater Dei Hospital, why wasn’t the new oncology hospital included in the initial plans for Mater Dei? Why was Parliament not informed of such a major decision?”
Wrapping up the debate on the health budget, Dalli also referred to existing contracts related to Mater Dei Hospital which he would like to change. Specifically, he mentioned the catering contract with Papillon Caterers, which was under the spotlight since the discovery of a mouse’s head in a nurse’s salad.
“I can’t change that contract,” Dalli said, “but I want to review it.”

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