Health minister appoints his trainee to key position, bypassing professionals

An aesthetic physician and trainee of Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela at Mater Dei Hospital has been placed in one of the top posts at the health ministry, bypassing more experienced candidates.

Santhosh Kumar Rajasekeran, until a few months ago, Jo Etienne Abela’s right-hand man during his time as a consultant at Mater Dei, has been appointed as the health ministry’s Chief Executive Coordinator responsible for all clinical services and projects, placed above Directors General within the same ministry who have been serving for decades.

Sources told The Shift that Kumar has been accompanying Minister Abela since Robert Abela appointed him Minister for the Elderly.

“He was one of the surgical trainees under the wing of Jo Etienne Abela when he used to work at Mater Dei. The minister now found a way to put him on the ministry’s payroll, giving orders to his subordinate civil servants on behalf of Abela,” a senior health official told The Shift.

Until a few weeks ago, Kumar was an advisor to the minister employed as his person of trust.

According to sources, instead of keeping his relationship with his advisor on a trust basis, Abela found a way to permanently put him on the public payroll, in a top post, to have executive powers. This did not go down well with top ministry officials.

The sources said that while a call was issued for the new post, “everyone knew this was tailor-made for the minister’s friend.”

Since he was appointed Health Minister earlier this year, Jo Etienne Abela has been under intense pressure to deliver on various fronts as many professionals perceive the health service as deteriorating following the government’s deal with Vitals / Steward Heath Care and the problems he inherited.

Abela also cancelled plans by his predecessor, Chris Fearne. While the long-awaited Paola Hub is stalled due to mismanagement by government contractors and the Foundation for Medical Services, the minister also reversed decisions to build a new mental health facility next to Mater Dei and a new regional hub in the north of Malta.

The minister also cancelled building a new outpatient block after millions were spent on plans, designs, and studies.

While announcing the soft closing of Mount Carmel Hospital, the health ministry issued a €10 million tender to build a new ward inside the same hospital.

The new health minister is also clashing with the doctor’s union, the MAM, which accuses him of lacking vision and strategy. On his part, Abela accused doctors of sabotaging his plans to revamp Malta’s national healthcare system.

Minister Abela did not reply to questions.