“I did not contest the elections and enter politics to be a backbencher,” Chris Fearne said regarding his new role as Parliamentary Secretary for Health.

He said that he did not contest the elections yesterday but five years ago and knew what he was letting himself in for, describing his new role as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity one could not lose out on.

Mr Fearne, whose career in the medical field spans a good 27 years, said that through his new role “I can be of more service to the patients I have worked with throughout my career”.

The 50-year-old consultant paediatric surgeon was replying to questions posed by this newspaper as to if he thinks he made the right decision in choosing his new role over his long-time profession, and if he was given enough time to decide.

This paper asked these question after a colleague of his, former Parliamentary Secretary Franco Mercieca, had requested the Prime Minister to grant him a waiver to be able to continue working as an ophthalmic surgeon. Cabinet members cannot exercise their profession while they are in office. In fact, from the start, especially in view of the waiver controversy, Mr Fearne openly declared that he would no longer be seeing patients at private clinics or Mater Dei, much to the dismay of his patients.

Last month, Dr Mercieca resigned his Cabinet role to return to his private practice on a full-time basis.

Mr Fearne said: “You can’t not say, however, that once a doctor always a doctor, and that over the years you builds up a love for your profession, but I did feel that this opportunity couldn’t be missed and I believe this new role will help me better serve the patients I have worked with.

“I hope I will be occupying this post for 15 years,” he said.

Although having stood for Parliament for the first time in 2008, Mr Fearne was involved in a number of youth organisations and student societies from a young age but his career prevented him from being more actively involved in politics.

Turning to his priorities as Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Mr Fearne said he believes that his priorities should be the priorities of the people.

“Admittedly, people are encountering a number of problems in the health sector. We are fortunate that we have a number of health care workers who perform well but, as you rightly pointed out, there is a string of problems that need to be addressed.

“You mention the out-of-stock medicines issue, the waiting lists and the overcrowding at Mater Dei. As far as the out-of-stock medicines situation is concerned, this is not a problem that has cropped up today but one that has been inherited from previous governments.

“In fact, prior to the general election, there were over 100 types of medicine that were out-of-stock in the Pharmacy of Your Choice (POYC) scheme, but this government, in a matter of a year, has brought down this number dramatically to 16 – as we speak – which still remains a matter of concern for us.”

Mr Fearne was replying to a question as to how he intends tackling a number of challenges in the health sector, including out-of-stock medicines, overcrowding at the hospital and the waiting lists.

“Although we agree with the POYC, we do believe that the number of out-of-stock medicines should be reduced as much as possible.

“During the first year in office, my predecessor, Godfrey Farrugia, launched a White Paper on medicines and the POYC scheme, and the government is in the middle of reviewing the submissions made by all stakeholders tied to the white paper’s consultation process. In the days and weeks to come, both I and my colleague, Minister Konrad Mizzi, will be forwarding our recommendations to the rest of the Cabinet, in a bid to bring the number of out-of-stock medicines down to a bare minimum,” he pointed out.

Asked if he had any concrete plans in hand, he reiterated what he had said prior the election: that out-of-stock medicines should be the exception and not the rule.

When confronted with the question that the Labour Party had a roadmap for the health sector, among other sectors, but was still seeking solutions to tackle the challenges, even going a step further and stating prior to the election that a Labour government would deliver medicines to people’s doorsteps, Mr Fearne highlighted the one and only challenge that has more or less been dealt with, despite the Opposition’s claims that the situation has spiralled out of control, and that is the scarcity of medicines which “is evidently not as it was before the general election.

“It is not by accident that the number of out-of-stock medicines has been reduced,” he insisted, “and this is all due to the work of a PL government”.

But he did say, once again, that the government is still not satisfied with today’s situation.

Prior to the general election, the PL had pledged that medicines would be delivered to the doorsteps of vulnerable people. Mr Fearne said that before this scheme is implemented, it is necessary to reduce as much as possible the problem of out-of-stock medicines.

Asked if claims that certain patients were already benefitting from a similar scheme, at least PL-leaning ones, as has been suggested by the Opposition, an adamant Mr Fearne replied: “This government has never favoured one patient over another based on what colour flag the person flies – or for any other reason, for that matter.”

This week, the PN leader claimed that the government, through the Ministry and the POYC office, was sending medicines to specific people according to their political allegiances, a claim which has been strongly denied by the government. But despite the government’s denial, later in the week Dr Busuttil reiterated his claim.

Pressed to say what strategy he will be implementing to deal with the overcrowding at Mater Dei, with patients being treated on beds in corridors – which up to this week has not exactly been the prettiest of pictures, Mr Fearne said that the problem is due to the fact that the previous government decided to build a hospital that cannot deal with today’s demands, and where the strain on its services continues to grow.

Pointing to demographics that which show that the aging population is set to increase, he said that he and his colleague had formed a project management team to focus solely on the shortage of beds at the hospital.

“The problem exists throughout the year, but the challenge becomes even greater during the winter months, due to the surge in the number of patients requiring medical treatment,” he said.

The project team referred to by Mr Fearne has been tasked with producing a plan to tackle the problem, after consulting all those involved, before the next winter season starts.

But is St Luke’s an option for the new health sector government appointees? Mr Fearne said that all options are being considered, including all hospitals and existing resources.

When asked if St Philips is one of the options, he reiterated that the government will be looking at all the options but not all the options will necessarily be taken up.

Pressed once again to say whether the government is really considering St Philips hospital as a way of reducing overcrowding at Mater Dei, Mr Fearne replied that where health is concerned, one must use all the resources the country has to offer but he stopped short of saying whether St Philips, which has lain abandoned for some time now, will actually be used.

He did, however, give an assurance that where the health of patients is concerned, “We will not be reluctant to allocate the necessary funding”.

Turning to the unions, and the fact that a number of problems had arisen between the unions, mainly the nursing union, and his predecessor, Mr Fearne said that in the three weeks since his and Dr Mizzi’s appointment: “We have already shown that we consider unions as allies and not rivals.

“I have had meetings with all the unions concerned and I can safely say that our relationship has begun on a positive note,” he said.

Mr Fearne cited the MUMN’s decision to withdraw its directives at Boffa Hospital, Mater Dei and Gozo General Hospital, as an example of reconciliation attempts between the government and unions.

Asked for his take on the challenges his predecessor may have not tackled, Mr Fearne said that Dr Farrugia is a good friend and colleague of his and that they had been at medical school together. He added that Dr Farrugia had done a lot of good during his term as Minister which had led to strong foundations being laid.

Strongly defending his predecessor, he said that Dr Farrugia did not have an easy job. “He was forced to face a number of problems left behind by an administration that was in power for 25 years, and which had implemented a number of strategies that were not viable.

“Dr Farrugia did not waste any time and, thanks to him, and despite the hurdles he encountered, both I and Dr Mizzi can continue to build on the good we have inherited.”

Questioned over the extra two storeys to be built over Mater Dei’s Emergency Department as a way of partially tackling the overcrowding at the hospital, Mr Fearne said that the problem with the Emergency Department is that people are having to wait for hours on end to be attended to.

Once again, he says that the Emergency Department itself is too small to meet the increase in patients, and instead of people being treated in the community, they are having to resort to the A&E Department.

“We are tackling these two issues by having already started structural work that will lead to the expansion of the department to accommodate both medical staff and patients, and we also aim to improve the service in the community to avoid the necessity of people having to go to the Emergency Department for help,” he said, highlighting that the latter is, however, part of a long-term strategy.

Asked if the government would be taking up calls made by the Opposition for Dolores Gauci to be reinstated, the Opposition having dubbed her removal as “a mistake, as she has a lot to offer”, and why the government had terminated her contract in the first place, Mr Fearne said that, according to employment regulations, when a person is on probation, that person does not have to be given a reason for the termination of the job.

Asked to say whether it was related to her performance, he once again quoted employment legislation.

Ms Gauci, who served as Chief Operations Officer at the Community Mental Health Services after serving as CEO of Mental Health, which incorporated both Mount Carmel Hospital and the Mental Health Community Services prior to the separating of the two services by the government in September, has now had her COO contract terminated by the government. The Opposition has called for her reinstatement after the government reversed its decision.

It was when the two services were divided that Ms Gauci was asked to relinquish her CEO post to take up the role of COO of the Mental Health Community Services within the Health Ministry. Labour Party general election candidate and lawyer Clifton Grima took up her role of CEO.

The government has now reversed its decision and amalgamated the two services again.

Ms Gauci, also formerly Richmond Foundation CEO, was employed in April 2013 at the Mt Carmel Hospital as CEO. Her contract as COO of Community Mental Health Services was terminated by the government a day before her probationary period elapsed, that period being stipulated in her contract as one year.

Asked why the government had decided to reverse its decision to reconnect Community Mental Health Services and the psychiatric hospital services, and whether they realised it was a mistake splitting them up in the first place, Mr Fearne said that the recently enacted Mental Health Act calls for one person to run the administrative side and another the clinical aspect.

“The clinical chair is occupied by the person who was there and who is to remain. As for the administrative side, we felt that there should be one person with a leadership role to take charge of the mental health sector as a whole and these are the sort of changes we are currently adopting as a series of amendments to the managerial structure of the mental health sector.”

Turning to the ‘in house’ IT system at Mater Dei, referred to as the CPAS, which replaced the PAS system earlier this year, and which critics have dubbed as a complete mess, Mr Fearne said that a health information action group has been set up – not be led by politicians but by individuals in the civil service who have technical expertise in this area – to advise the government on what resources are required to help improve the health sector’s IT system.

He said that the CEO of Mater Dei, Joe Caruana (who is to leave his post at the end of this month citing personal reasons) and to whom Mr Fearne referred as the end user of the IT system, “assured me that the system is working fine. As with the implementation of any new system, it should have an audit trail,” he said, when asked if the government would be replacing the system yet again.

Regarding Dr Farrugia’s reply to the media when he was asked if the waiting lists had risen or fallen, in which he had pinned the blame on debts reaching €68 million inherited by the previous administration, and that the same administration had reduced the Ministry’s finances even further in the budget for 2013, Mr Fearne said that he agreed with his predecessor’s claims, but added that the issue of waiting lists is really starting to get to him.

“I have been a doctor for 27 years so I know exactly what the problems are; the issue of waiting lists hurts me a lot as a doctor and in the coming days we intend to launch one in a series of initiatives to reduce the number of people waiting for surgery,” he said.

Back to the subject of the resources the government intends using, Mr Fearne said: “We will be using the resources we already have at Mater Dei, but in a more efficient manner”, while pointing out that the government will also be using other resources the country has to offer, a reference to the private sector, as in fact it did on Friday after it announced the signing of a private-public partnership agreement for MRI scans to be conducted at St James’s Hospital to help reduce waiting lists at Mater Dei.

The scans are to be funded by the state.

On the subject of why the government had stopped using St James Hospital for surgery on the NHS in the first place, Mr Fearne did not comment but reiterated that a string of initiatives are in the process of being launched.

Asked if he agrees with the conclusions of the John Dalli report and, if so, what parts of it he would be implementing, Mr Fearne said that there are two reports being considered by the government, the one by Mr Dalli and a more extensive one by Johns Hopkins.

“The Johns Hopkins report had already been looked at by my predecessor, and I have also studied it.

“We have already begun implementing the managerial structural changes as suggested in this report,” Mr Fearne said.