Senior doctors and surgeons will be in Malta in a few weeks' time to attend the bi-annual meeting of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Sir Alfred Cuschieri, one of the world's pioneers of minimally invasive keyhole surgery, and Johann de Bono, a doctor and researcher at the Royal Marsden Hospital, will be among the speakers during the three-day meeting.

Stephen Brincat, the head of the Radiotherapy and Oncology Department at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, will be launching a new study in colorectal cancer and presenting the breast cancer studies carried out over the years while cardiac surgeon Alex Manchè will be talking about cardiac surgery in the elderly.

A number of Irish doctors will also be giving talks.

The meeting will also be a build-up to the opening of the medical school which the college plans to open here.

Speaking to The Times, Dr Brincat, who is chairing the local scientific committee in charge of the meeting, said the meeting will also emphasise the importance of post-graduate training.

"We hope that through collaboration with the Royal College, we will be able to offer junior doctors better opportunities to advance their careers and train."

Dr Brincat said it is difficult for doctors to get training posts abroad and, once they do, they are a loss for the local health service.

Speaking about the new medical school, Dr Brincat expressed his belief that this will be "extremely stimulating" and lecturers will even be given training in new teaching techniques.

"Being able to offer at least part of the training here would be very good. I do not think we should offer all the training, because since Malta is a small country, having our junior doctors get all their ideas and training from here would lead to stagnation.

"Malta has always been dependent on the flow of doctors going abroad and coming back, which is leading to the high standards that we currently enjoy."

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