DR. FRANCIS AGIUS, M.D., M.Sc. (Wales), MFPHM (UK), M.P.

 

Francis (Frans ) Agius was born in 1960, the son of a customs officer. He was educated at the Lyceum and the University of Malta where he read medicine and graduated in 1984. In 1985 he pursued his postgraduate studies at the University of Wales.  In 1987 he obtained his Master of Science in Epidemiology and Health Planning. Later he  also passed the Membership of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the UK (MFPHM). In 1992 he obtained the Certificate in Hospital Management of the University of Birmingham. The ten years between 1984 and 1994 saw Dr Agius start from a house-officer to the post of Medical Superintendent of the two largest hospitals on the Island, St Luke and St Vincent de Paule Residence.

These were formative years highlighted by involvement in the planning phases of the new hospital at Tal-Qroqq, the ongoing reform in the Health division and numerous international conferences in the health field. He was appointed Consultant and Lecturer at the University of Malta. Later Dr Agius became the first president of the Association of Public Health Physicians (Malta). 

In parallel with this track record in the public administration Dr Agius nurtured a steady general practice especially around the town of Zabbar. This formed the basis for his involvement in politics. He successfully contested the first local election of Zabbar in 1994. In the following general election of 1996 he was elected for the first time in Parliament, as a candidate of the Partit Nazzjonalista from the 3rd electoral district.  The PN lost that election and Dr Agius was the party' shadow spokesman on Energy matters.  

He was re-elected in the 1998 election and was appointed as one of the Maltese Parliamentarians sitting on the Council of Europe.  This gave him ever more opportunity in the political sphere with various assignments including observing elections in Georgia, representing the Council in the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002 and elected as President of the Agriculture and Fisheries Committee of the same Council of Europe. In the elections of 2003 Dr Agius obtained an ever increasing popular confirmation and was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary in Social Policy with the responsibilities of the elderly and disabled people.  In March 2004, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture and Fisheries in the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment