How to solve the doctor shortage

As a medical graduate from the University of Malta I could not help agreeing emphatically with the constructive criticisms made in the editorial Not Enough Doctors In The House".

It is no secret at all that in recent years the shortage of doctors in Malta has been exacerbated by the outflow of bright and highly promising medical graduates lured overseas by higher pay and superior training opportunities than in Malta itself.

The fact that much needs to be done to improve working conditions for junior doctors at St Luke's also is part of the problem that needs to be dealt with if this exodus is to be stemmed.

One aspect that seems to have largely escaped attention, however, is the role of overseas doctors - trained both abroad as well as in Malta itself - in ameliorating the shortage. Every year the output of medical graduates from the University includes a number of overseas nationals, who, from my personal experience as well as those of my colleagues, are not always permitted to work after the two-year post-graduate internship is completed.

In fact, for non-Maltese national medical graduates from the University of Malta, working after the House Officer training period is completed, either in the private or public sector, is all too often practically impossible, which explains why the vast majority of Maltese trained foreign doctors eventually have no choice but to leave.

The lack of opportunities for such graduates is perhaps exemplified by the job applications for the Senior House Officer posts that clearly state that one has to be a Maltese national to apply - a clearly defined glass ceiling for medical graduates with non-Maltese passports.

Even if one were to set aside the fact that such rules could easily be considered a form of discrimination, the reality nevertheless remains that obstacles in the path of non-Maltese doctors only serves to make the shortage of doctors more severe than it otherwise would have to be.

So, as a constructive suggestion to the Medical Association of Malta, may I humbly suggest a relatively straightforward way of perhaps partially alleviating the shortage of junior doctors in service?

If non-Maltese medical graduates from the University could be given similar opportunities as their Maltese peers, perhaps the authorities would be surprised to find how many foreign nationals trained as doctors in Malta would be more than happy to serve the country that trained them, rather than seek greener pastures in the UK, or as in my case the US.