Former President and Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami “is expected to make a full recovery” after undergoing a cardiac procedure, cardiologist Albert Fenech told Times of Malta.

The procedure, known as a coronary angiogram, was carried out to diagnose any heart conditions. It lasted under 30 minutes and it was concluded that the chest pains could be treated with medication, he said.

Dr Fenech Adami, 79, has a history of heart problems. He has undergone a triple bypass surgery and had a pacemaker put in.

The support from the whole population has been, as always, overwhelmingly impressive

Yesterday morning he was taken to Mater Dei Hospital complaining of chest pains and a medical team decided to carry out the angiogram.

As news of his hospitalisation spread, Dr Fenech Adami’s five children were inundated by text messages and phone calls of support.

“The support from the whole population has been, as always, overwhelmingly impressive. I must have received, literally, hundreds of messages of support … and I’m one of five,” his daughter Maria Cassar said.

“We appreciate the support and interest the public has shown. They appreciate that our father has dedicated his life to the public,” she said.

Her father served as Malta’s Prime Minister between 1987 and 1996 and again from 1998 until 2004. He was later sworn in as the seventh President of Malta between 2004 and 2009.

Dr Fenech Adami’s political contribution to the country was also acknowledged by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his wife Michelle, who wished him a speedy recovery, as did the PN.

Ms Cassar had just left her father’s side after ensuring he was doing well when she was contacted by Times of Malta yesterday afternoon.

“He was talking to us. He’s so well that I left his bedside … we’re told he’s expected to make a full recovery,” she said.

Her brother Beppe, a Nationalist MP who is contesting the party’s deputy leadership on Saturday, explained that his father had complained about the chest discomfort in the morning.

“We called the doctor who said it was best to go to hospital,” he said. Speaking from hospital, soon after his father’s medical intervention, Dr Fenech Adami said his father was “looking well” but was still recovering.

“We are taking it in our stride,” he said with a tone of caution.

Dr Fenech Adami is in the critical coronary care unit.

Back in 1997 he had suffered a transient ischaemiac attack, or mini-stroke, caused by a temporary disruption in the blood supply to part of the brain. In 1999 he underwent a triple heart bypass and, in 2008, an angioplasty during which a stent was introduced after doctors found he had a critically narrowed coron-ary artery.

In 2011 a pacemaker was implanted after he suffered a heart attack during lunch with then Transport Minister Austin Gatt and former President Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, among others. Dr Fenech Adami’s wife, Mary, died at the age of 77 on July 8, 2011, a few days after she was hospitalised. She had suffered a heart attack and collapsed at Girgenti Palace during the wedding reception of the son of former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

The planning authority has approved a proposal to restore the newly-exposed side of the Auberge d’Italie in Valletta.

The auberge, which houses the Tourism Ministry, is currently scheduled as a Grade 1 monument.

The side of the building was recently exposed during works on the City Gate project. The site to be restored extends from the side of the Auberge d’Italie to part of the recently-created Piazza de Vallette, at the corner between South and Zachary streets.

At the side of the auberge facing South Street is an entrance door at a different level from that of the piazza, indicating there was once a side entrance to the auberge from what could possibly have been an enclosed courtyard or a public square.

Several parts of the building were exposed after the Bank of Valletta building was demo-lished, according to the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage.

When consulted, the superintendent said the newly-exposed wall required a shell to cover its uneven surfaces. There was no evidence of sculptural elements similar to those found on the other sides of the auberge.

The restoration will first entail the removal of paint and cement. The two existing concrete buttresses will be dressed in stone.

A masonry block at the corner of the wall, known as a quoin, will be set. The proposed reconstructed quoin design is in line with the original design present on the front and rear façade of the auberge and complements the other architectural elements.

What is an angiogram?

A coronary angiogram is a procedure that uses X-ray imaging to see the heart’s blood vessels and explore whether there are blockages or narrowed areas.

The patient is fully conscious while a catheter is introduced into the heart either through the groin or the arm. Local anaesthetic is administered in the area where the incision is made.

The catheter allows for the injection of a type of dye into the blood vessels of the heart. The dye is visible by X-ray machine that rapidly takes a series of images, or angiograms, offering a detailed look at the inside of the blood vessels.

In some cases a stent, or metal mesh used to widen narrowed arteries, is introduced, in which case the procedure is known as an angioplasty.