Health minister extends tender for outsourcing of emergency services

The Health Ministry has extended, twice, the closing date of a controversial tender to start buying emergency hospital services from the private sector after pressure from St James Hospital, The Shift can reveal.

After refusing to budge when St James Hospital made its initial request last week, Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela has given in to pressure and ordered an extension until 2 August to accept offers.

Following the tender’s announcement, St James Hospital, owned by former PN MP Josie Muscat, welcomed the news but asked for an extension. It is really only his hospitals that could come close to meeting requirements.

Mater Dei hospital sources told The Shift that the tender would not significantly address the current problems facing the Emergency Department.

While St James is the only private hospital in Malta that can handle emergencies, it can only act on minor ones. Also, its capacity, including space, staff, and particularly specialists, is limited, making the number of patients it can handle, on top of its usual private intake, minimal.

“We cannot understand why the government decided to issue a tender as everyone in the field knows this is just for St James. No other private hospitals in Malta are licensed for emergency services,” a senior consultant told The Shift.

According to the tender, seen by The Shift, people with medical emergencies will still have to call Mater Dei first. It will only be decided after a consultant sees them whether they can be transferred to St James to be treated there.

Indirectly acknowledging that this is just a crisis management measure, the government’s tender, which is for just three months and extendable for a maximum of two years, states that private hospitals will only be asked to handle cases related to uncomplicated head injuries, uncomplicated LCW requiring suturing, chest infections, urinary and skin infections, and stable non-specific abdominal pains and gastroenteritis.

While the tender does not include a total value, which is unusual in procurement processes, it establishes a list of maximum payments the government will make.

These include €30 for a consultation by a general practitioner, €70 by a consultant, €70 for every X-ray, €150 for a CT scan and €20 for an ECG.

An overnight stay will cost the government €200 per night, even for observation.

Health professionals, including the Medical Association of Medicine (MAM), have criticised the latest decision to outsource health emergency services.

The MAM described the government’s approach to planning and managing the health sector as “amateur”, adding that this new proposal was nothing more than a “small patch to cover a big hole”.

Reacting, the health minister told The Shift, “This is no small patch. To be sure, it is a very complicated patchwork intended to lead to a system overhaul.” He referred to several initiatives the government was planning to implement to address problems in the healthcare sector.

Waiting times at Mater Dei’s emergency service average eight to 12 hours, professionals have told The Shift.

Taxpayers are already paying private hospitals millions to alleviate the load on the state’s services. The outsourced services include minor operations, CT scans and MRIs.

In many cases, the same consultants and specialists on Mater Dei’s payroll provide services at private hospitals.