Former Mater Dei clinical director Joseph Zarb Adami has stayed on as consultant at the Health Ministry after his hospital contract expired recently, the Times of Malta has learnt.

Dr Zarb Adami was on a post-retirement contract which, according to a Health Ministry spokeswoman, has now expired.

While calls to fill the post of clinical director have been published, the spokeswoman said, Dr Zarb Adami will not be retaining his post and instead will stay on as a consultant at the ministry. The post vacated by Dr Zarb Adami has yet to be filled.

This newspaper is also informed that Dr Zarb Adami, an anaesthetist by profession, also sits on a quality assurance board as a Health Ministry nominated member.

The board has representatives from Vitals Global Healthcare, Barts and the government.

Several attempts to contact Dr Zarb Adami for comments proved futile.

Pressed to say whether Dr Zarb Adami would be relinquishing any clinical roles he might have now that he is serving as a consultant to the ministry, the spokeswoman would not say.

The spokeswoman also did not specify what Dr Zarb Adami’s role as consultant involved but confirmed that he also sits on the Vitals Global Healthcare project’s Quality Assurance Board.

In 2015, the hospital’s management adhered strictly to policies laid out in a collective agreement on post-retirement contracts. The move made headlines at the time when cardiologist Albert Fenech was asked to work fewer hours to make room for younger practitioners.