Allegations made following the first coronary angiogram surgery at Mater Dei Hospital were built on “ignorance and ineptitude”, cardiologist Prof. Albert Fenech told The Malta Independent in an exclusive interview.

Two months after what Prof. Fenech described as “personal” attacks, the cardiologist said that he was not surprised that no apology had come his way, even though these allegations turned out to be lies and part of a political strategy.

The allegations had been made by Labour health spokesman Michael Farrugia, who had said that “not all precautions were taken against complications” while cardiac procedures being made by Prof. Fenech were underway. Prof. Fenech had immediately reacted by saying that all safety precautions had been taken, adding that he expected Dr Farrugia to “have the foresight to speak to someone competent in cardiac procedures before issuing the statement.”

In his interview with TMID, he said that he did not expect a politician to apologise for what he said, even if it turned out to be untrue, as that would be political suicide. However, he said that what shocked him was the fact that it was a doctor who made insinuations that the procedures were not safe, and with these accusations he tried to instil a fear in the public.

Prof. Fenech explained that even though he and his medical team were unaware they were going to be the first to perform a procedure at the new hospital, they had worked hard and had everything prepared for 5 November as they had been told repeatedly that Mater Dei was going to open on that date.

He said that what seemed to surprise Dr Farrugia was that he (Prof. Fenech) took the latter’s accusations personally. Prof. Fenech said that he was the one doing the procedure and that it was up to him to decide whether the surgery should be carried out or not. If he did not consider the procedure safe, he would not have gone through with it.

See interview on pages 8 and 9