Former Health Minister Vincent Moran passed away today, the Labour Party said. He was 86 years old.

In a statement, the PL said that Moran will be remembered for being a people's person.

He was elected for the first time to Parliament in 1962, and his mission was to serve the people and improve the quality of their life. This was mostly so in the health sector, the PL said.

The Nationalist Party also paid its respects to Moran.

Moran was born in Cospicua in 1932. He studied at the Lyceum and the Royal University of Malta, where he draguated as a doctor in 1958.

In 1948 he entered politics with the Labour Party and served on various posts in the executive committee of the Labour Youth League.

In 1958 he was elected member of the national executive of the Malta Labour Party.

He successfully contested the elections of 1962, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1987 and 1992.

He was health minister between 1976 and 1987.

Source: Dictionary of Maltese Biographies, Michael J. Schiavone

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In a statement, Labour MEP Alfred Sant said that he remembers Moran showing him and other colleagues around St Luke's Hospital at the time of the doctors' strike in the late 1970s. It was clear, Sant Sant, that Moran knew the hospital inside out, and he was familiar with the staff, talking to them and to the patients with enthusiasm and attention.

Sant said he also remembered Moran during parliamentary group meetings and the PL natiional executive, which for a time used to be held together. Moran rarely spoke, Sant said, but when he did his interventions were clear, strong and prudent.

Sant said he also remembered Moran taking him to the family home on Freedom Day, a time when his wife Maggie was close to her death. She was courageous till the end, and he was in pain and spoke little. When he was out of earshot, his wife "told me to take care of him and not to forget him," Sant said.

"I also remember him when Fr Joe Borg, who at the time was running RTK, led a string operation against him. We had discussed the issue in a calm manner and he took a decision that was in the best interests of the party," Sant said.

"Later, I had called him to inform him that the PL had decided to appoint him as a life member," Sant added.

Moran led the health ministry in difficult times, was a doctor that gave excellent service to his patients, even to those who could not pay their dues. His loyalty to the Labour Party was exemplary, Sant Sant, and his contribution will not be forgotten.