Albert Fenech, a pioneering local cardiologist who co-founded the cardiology department within public healthcare in 1995, passed away on Tuesday.

The top doctor spent an extended period working overseas, and served a brief stint as a Nationalist MP, between 2013 and 2016, before he left the position to help set up a cardiac unit in Gozo with Vitals Global Healthcare. This never materialised, and he left the company in 2018.

Prior to that move, Prof Fenech had experienced a highly successful career, rising to surmount Malta’s cardiology pool, carrying out the first operation at Mater Dei Hospital in 2007, after returning to Malta from abroad to help overhaul the country’s cardiology offering – taking a drastic cut in salary to set up the cardiology department at St Luke’s Hospital.

Tributes poured in for the popular and respected professional, including from the Nationalist Party he served and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, who described him as “a colleague and a gentleman.”

A peer in the medical profession, Jo Etienne Abela, a Consultant Surgeon at Mater Dei, also mourned his passing, describing him as “an icon of the medical profession in our country,” and as a “wise and innovative physician, operator and educator.”

His passing was also marked by Ryan Callus, who decried that Malta has lost one of its top cardiologists.

Prof Fenech was reportedly found dead inside his home, and is believed to have died of natural causes.