It should have shocked thousands of people in Malta to hear Thursday’s news that Prof. Albert Fenech was allowed to perform his last operation at Mater Dei on that day.

How such a highly esteemed cardiologist worldwide was told that he had to make way for younger candidates in our hospital is just too preposterous to be believed.

We are talking here of a highly qualified cardiologist, who in full dedication to his country, recognised the urgency of starting a cardiac unit to cater for all emergencies on our islands and thus decided to return, 20 years ago, to Malta, convincing his colleague and friend Prof. Alex Manche to do likewise.

Together they became a great team and a wonderful success story. Nobody needed to dream of going abroad for a complicated heart intervention or operation anymore.

By-passes and every kind of complicated heart surgery became an everyday occurrence. The government saved millions because of the top esteem and competence our country now enjoyed in saving so many heart-troubled lives. People even came from abroad.

But above all, Fenech as a person achieved great trust. His kindness and generosity at all times made him greatly sought after and every patient loved and respected him. His care and charisma were inexhaustible. I cannot imagine (and so will a thousand others with me) how politicians can allow such dastardly behaviour to happen towards someone who has benefited his country so enormously, and for them to have permitted this ‘sacking’ to have taken place.

“Making way for new cardioogists” is just a load of nonsense; someone with his experience could only have helped them achieve much more in the future.

As co-founder of the cardiology unit his ever leaving Mater Dei should not have been considered at all.

And his place there should have remained nowhere else but at the top. Both political parties should be put to shame for letting such things happen.

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