A gentleman, a friend and a good doctor

I was shocked and dumbfounded when I learned about the unfortunate and tragic demise of Salvu (as he was affectionately known). Salvu was like a second brother to me, having worked closely with him for the past seven and a half years at the Qormi and Floriana health centres.

Salvu was from Qormi, and graduated as a doctor in 1993. After spending some years in hospital rotations, he started working at health centres, practising the specialty he liked most - general practice. I had spoken to him a couple of times previously, but got to know him well after 2000, when we started to work together.

Salvu was an amicable person, always ready to help and provide support. He was a good doctor, and always put the quality of care for patients as his top priority. We used to spend hours discussing issues, and soon started to realise that we had a lot in common.

I remember these moments with joy, and indeed treasure them. Salvu was the perfect workmate; always reliable and ready to give a helping hand, even when the situation put great strain on us. He was trustworthy, and I learnt a lot from him.

We were involved in the council of the Malta College of Family Doctors. He was the secretary in charge of communications, while I sat on the education sub-committee. He published a monthly newsletter, highlighting the situation with general practice and putting forward innovative ideas. Salvu had at heart the improvement of the specialty of general practice, and indeed one can say that he spent his entire career fighting for this quest.

Salvu became involved in the Medical Association of Malta, as category representative for health centre doctors.

He strove, against many odds, to better our working conditions and also to put forward our case with various authorities. At times, I actually lost hope of any positive developments, but not him. He was indefatigable.

On a strictly professional level, Salvu was very much in favour of personal professional development. He obtained two post-graduate diplomas from the Irish College of General Practitioners, one in Therapeutics (in 2002) and the other in Preventative Medicine (in 2004). Subsequently, he read for a Masters with Ulster University. Ironically, he was scheduled to travel to Ireland for the graduation ceremony in a month's time.

He was also a certified trainer for the specialist training programme in general practice. We attended our training courses together, and I vividly recall sitting next to him and even passing the odd funny comment during lectures. He strove for the trainee programme to start, and indeed it is a pity that Salvu left us now that the programme is scheduled to start in the very near future.

Salvu was devoted to his family. We used to share our experiences as parents, particularly the restless nights at home and our children's joie de vivre.

We used to joke about the future, imagining that one day his daughters could be dating my two sons! Besides his family, Salvu was passionate about his fields, and would try to escape there whenever work, study or family life permitted.

His loss is a terrible loss for me. We understood each other with a look. As a doctor, I held him in high regard; he was particularly interested in service provision and team working. His M.Sc. thesis was about cross-profession organisation.

Certainly, his loss is a big blow to the medical community and Malta in general. However, through his continuous efforts, he has set an example of how people should fight for what they believe in. Salvu is now no longer with us, but his legacy is here to stay. It was an honour having him as a friend.