The Auditor General on Tuesday presented a Performance Audit on care for the elderly in Gozo, for which, the Nationalist Party has said, “the Government must take responsibility.”

The National Audit Office had stated that the audit had, “elicited mixed results in the provision of community and residential care services for the elderly in Gozo.”

In a statement, the PN said that the audit “most clearly rebuked the Government and particularly the Ministry for Gozo for major deficiencies found in the services that the Government is providing in this sector.”

The PN described it as “rampant abuse of the people’s money to the detriment of the elderly themselves who make use of these services or who need these services.”

The PN also highlighted the fact that “31% of all home help service were not being given to the elderly in their homes, but pretending to be given in government offices in Gozo.”

“Last year alone, this Government paid €500,000 for a phantom home help service in its offices,” the PN said. “The Government must immediately explain where the money and services really went.”

The PN also called for an explanation on “the €1 million spent to date on a home for the elderly that has been promised since 2013 and that is still not completed, and for the exorbitant costs that the Government is paying for each bed at the Downtown Hotel, as well as for other deficiencies that exist in services in the community.”

The Nationalist Party concluded by insisting that the elderly on Gozo should be given all the services they deserve.

The joint statement was in the names of Paula Mifsud Bonnici Spokesperson for Active Ageing and Assistant Whip, as well as Alex Borg Spokesperson for Gozo.

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