The price of Konrad’s beds

I have received the email below.

Last Thursday, TVM’s Dissett hosted Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, who did his best to enlighten us on the agreement with Barts while keeping the government’s state secrets.

He said repeatedly – this was quite a point with him – that a bed at Mater Dei Hospital costs the government €1,000 a day. His interviewer did not stop him mid-flow to ask what this means in terms of total cost (Mater Dei Hospital has 800 beds).

So let’s work it out ourselves: €1,000 a day x 800 beds = €800,000 a day x 365 days = €292 million a year.

The minister said that the government’s ‘deal’ will cost the nation much less, without telling us how much it costs the nation now, and in his excitement revealing the Big State Secret that they’ve struck a deal already despite saying they have yet to issue a call for expressions of interest/proposals.

If you look at section 3 of this report Social_Protection_2013 you will find that the entire spend on all healthcare in 2012 was short of €300 million. The spend on St. Luke’s/Mater Dei hospitals amounted to €138 million.

Even allowing for inflation, that’s far, far short of Konrad Mizzi’s €292 million a year.

The man is deliberately exaggerating the cost to justify his decision and make it palatable.