St Philip’s hospital deal to be signed ‘within days’

The contract for the lease of St Philip’s Hospital will be signed in the coming days, according to Finance Minister Tonio Fenech. A day after Parliament discussed the agreement in an emergency session, Mr Fenech told The Times the contract was being finalised by lawyers. “This goes to show how serious we are and it will be signed in the coming days,” he said when asked whether a date had been set. St Philip’s, a 100-bed hospital, closed down more than two years ago after running into financial problems. The Government wants to lease the hospital from former Nationalist Party MP and president Frank Portelli for €850,000 a year to use as a rehabilitation facility. The lease agreement is for eight years, with the Government having the option of buying it outright from the third year onwards, based on a valuation of €12.4 million. Mr Fenech yesterday defended the Government’s decision to submit the lease agreement to parliamentary scrutiny only after it is signed, insisting that the law was on the Government’s side. “Everyone should respect the country’s procedures and it would create a bad precedent if the Opposition gets its way and the contract is scrutinised before signing simply...