Heart care consultants are up-in-arms against a government plan to divide the department they work in into two entities, a move they consider to be detrimental to the work they carry out, sources told The Malta Independent.

In crude terms, what the government will do is set up two departments – one that is responsible for cardiac surgery and another that is responsible for non-invasive treatment of heart conditions. At present, the two sections are amalgamated into one department.

Nine of the 11 consultants who at present work in the single department that covers both specialisations have signed a petition aimed to stop the planned division, which the government decided without any consultation with them.

The cardiology and cardiovascular departments were integrated 11 years ago to improve the level of care given in the treatment of heart conditions, a decision that proved beneficial and enabled the single department to become one of the more efficient at the hospital, where the waiting list is kept to a minimum.

Of the 14,300 patients on Mater Dei’s Hospital waiting list for surgery, only 815 are waiting for some kind of cardiac intervention.

There are many instances when cardiac surgery is carried out by a team that includes a cardiologist and a cardiac surgeon. Today, they fall under the same department but with the government’s plan the two will fall under different sections, a situation that could complicate matters, the sources said.

The Health Ministry’s intentions to split the departments again was announced last week, a move that the consultants believe would go against the interests of the patients, who need both sections of the profession to be given comprehensive treatment, the sources said.