Cardiologist Albert Fenech will operate at Mater Dei for the last time tomorrow, a decision he was informed of last month by Cardiology Department chairman Robert Xuereb.

Prof Fenech, a Nationalist MP, was told "there are too many consultants within the department and room had to be made for young cardiologists".

“I never thought it would end in this way. I said I would be happy to stay and operate for just one day a week but I was told that was not possible,” said Prof Fenech, who had co-founded the department 20 years ago.

Upon receiving the news last month, Prof Fenech contacted the Mater Dei CEO and the medical director who overruled Dr Xuereb’s decision and allowed him to stay on for another month so he could operate on patients who had been under his care for years.

Prof Fenech last year filed a judicial protest against the health parliamentary secretary, the health ministry’s permanent secretary and the Mater Dei Hospital CEO for being forced into part-time work in what he claimed was a breach of policy.

He has since been working a 20-hour week.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.