The head of Mater Dei’s ophthalmic department has contradicted a claim that parliamentary secretary Franco Mercieca is the sole medical practitioner in any field of eye surgery.
Mr Thomas Fenech said that the medical services offered by Mr Mercieca can and are being offered by other surgeons at hospital.
“The impression that is being given that he (Franco Mercieca) is an essential cogwheel in the department and if he is not working here certain operations will not be done and we will need to send patients abroad, is not the case,” Mr Fenech said yesterday.
The ministerial code of ethics prevents Cabinet members from conducting any private work. However, Mr Mercieca was given “a limited waiver” by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to continue serving as an eye surgeon, on the basis that he is the sole specialist in two branches of eye surgery.
Asked for Mr Mercieca’s reaction to this latest development, a spokesman refuted the criticism. “Mr Fenech is conveniently ignoring the fact that Mr Mercieca is the sole ophthalmic surgeon in Malta specialised in cornea and anterior segment surgery,” he said, putting emphasis on the word “specialised”.
The spokesman reiterated that Mr Mercieca was “the sole medical practitioner of certain corneal and anterior segment refractive surgery” currently not catered for at the state hospital.
Earlier, Dr Muscat had defended the decision (see separate story), saying his Government believed in “common sense”.
“Mr Mercieca has specialisations that few people in our country have and I felt he should be given permission to carry out some limited work so that patients do not suffer,” Dr Muscat said.
Mr Mercieca was quoted in The Times yesterday explaining that the waiver will allow him to follow up cases in which he was “the sole medical practitioner in the field”. He also mentioned cornea and anterior segment surgery as two speciality areas.
But this justification has ruffled feathers at hospital’s ophthalmic department with Mr Fenech insisting there will be no deduction in services if Mr Mercieca chooses to stop practicing as an eye surgeon.
Mr Fenech said anteriorsegment surgery was “bread and butter” surgery of every ophthalmic surgeon and includes cataract, glaucoma and squint surgery. “All the consultants who work at Mater Dei do these types of operations.”
‘It is my duty to continue’
Another branch of anterior segment surgery is corrective eye surgery, laser treatment to correct short-sightedness, which Mr Mercieca does in the private sector. Laser treatment, considered to be cosmetic surgery, is not offered in public hospitals and there is another ophthalmologist who offers such a service.
With reference to corneal surgery, Mr Fenech explained that the only type of surgery done at Mater Dei to date was full thickness corneal surgery (corneal transplants), a service introduced in the late 1970s. “I used to do these surgeries myself when I returned from the US, to this day Dr Janula has always done corneal transplants and recently when Mr Mercieca had come from abroad, I myself started passing on my patients to him. Since he wasn’t working for the last few months I started to do corneal transplants again.”
However, the parliamentary secretary was unfazed by the explanation, with the spokesman insisting that rather than giving interviews and “wasting precious time in agenda driven crusades”, Mr Fenech should focus on how to improve current service levels in the ophthalmic field.
He did not say what “agenda” he was referring to but Mr Fenech happens to be the husband of lawyer Ann Fenech, who was tasked by the Nationalist Party to head a commission analysing the electoral defeat.
The spokesman said Mr Mercieca believed it was not only his right to continue contributing to the ophthalmic field but “his duty” even if on a limited basis.
“Does contributing to this effort, without remuneration including Sundays, require the permission of Mr Fenech? The right of patients to receive the best care available is something we should all be proud of,” the spokesman added.
Mr Fenech said he had no objection if Mr Mercieca wanted to continue operating at Mater Dei not to lose his clinical skills. “This will be a good thing and he is welcome.”
ksansone@timesofmalta.com