Health Minister Joe Cassar is not worried about the criticism levelled at him by fellow Nationalist MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia over the primary healthcare consultation paper which, he insists, is still subject to change.

The White Paper was still open for consultation and no options were excluded, Dr Cassar said yesterday.

A proposal to register patients with their chosen family doctor attracted criticism by Dr Farrugia and Nationalist backbencher Frans Agius, both family doctors.

Dr Farrugia has warned the Prime Minister in an e-mail he will not vote for the reform as proposed and Dr Agius said he had "big reservations" and could not commit on how he would vote.

Another backbencher, Robert Arrigo, also expressed his reservations.

Dr Cassar said he was not worried about the public criticism of the proposed patient registration scheme: "We don't have to agree on everything. It is healthy for people to have their own ideas."

Visiting a new ward in St Vincent de Paul Residence, in Luqa, Dr Cassar repeated what his predecessor, Social Policy Minister John Dalli, had said when the White Paper was launched. "This is a consultation process and this means things will change."

The consultation period on healthcare reform ends in the first week of March after which the government is expected to issue a second draft of the proposed reform.

The government was open to all comments on the reform and would do its best to include all the positive feedback it received, Dr Cassar said. "But sometimes it's not possible to take on board all the positive comments."

Dr Cassar said he was still waiting for the Labour Party's reactions to the proposed reform. Labour MP and family doctor Anthony Zammit was the only person from the party who said in Parliament he agreed with the patient registration scheme, he said.

The ward visited yesterday is called Pope John Paul II and is worth €9 million. Expected to start being used within three months, the ward is specifically designed for people who suffer from dementia.