Malta's years-long problem of losing fresh graduate doctors to the UK is being eased as more young medics are choosing to continue their training at home.
More than 81 per cent of new doctors who were successful in an interview this year have opted for employment within the public health service. The figure was just below 80 per cent last year, in both cases a higher level of retention than the roughly 70 per cent in 2007.
The improvement is being attributed to the start of a foundation programme that allows doctors to do their two-year housemanship in Malta but retain the possibility of specialising in the UK.
Kevin Cassar, one of the foundation school's two directors, said Malta had reached a point of crisis before the programme started, with newly graduated doctors leaving the country as soon as they finished medical school. Although medical school is free, the government could not force these graduates to remain in Malta after they finished their education.
Although the tradition of Maltese doctors pursuing their training in Britain goes back decades, the situation became dire in 2005 after the UK introduced changes to its medical education system. It meant doctors who did not do the foundation course in a UK hospital had a very slim chance of getting into British specialist training programmes.
"This saw even more Maltese doctors leave the island as soon as they graduated to enter training courses in the UK," Mr Cassar explained.
Back in May 2008, before the foundation course started, medical students had complained that more than a third of final-year students were planning to leave the island after graduating, exacerbating the brain drain.
The previous month, the Medical Association of Malta had warned that Malta risked losing 60 doctors within three months unless the government implemented guaranteed structured postgraduate specialisation training for all doctors who did their housemanship in Malta.
Mr Cassar, a surgeon, pointed out that the local health service depended a lot on young doctors who were more often the first to see patients.
"We cannot retain all, but the haemorrhage of doctors has diminished drastically," he said.
The foundation course started as a pilot project in January 2009, with the first full intake in July last year.
According to government figures, 54 out of the 66 doctors who passed a pre-employment interview have been recruited in the public health system.
Mr Cassar said all those who passed the interview were offered a job within the local health system. While a few turned it down, four others did not pass their final exams, whose results were published after the interviews.
"We hope they will pass their resits and join us in September," Mr Cassar said.
Not only is the foundation course recognised by British hospitals but the local school is an affiliate of the UK's programme, putting local medical graduates on a par with those who train in Britain.
"If they graduate here and do the two-year foundation programme in Malta, they will have the same certificate as those who did it in the UK," Mr Cassar said.
Moreover, apart from retaining local doctors, the foundation school is also attracting a number of new graduates from other countries.
"Hopefully these will make up for those who still leave Malta."
Mr Cassar pointed out that while the stimulus to start the foundation course was the haemorrhage of doctors, the new training was extremely beneficial for Malta's health system.
For the first time, doctors are benefiting from simulation training, during which they practise their clinical skills using mannequins.
Young doctors are mentored and helped to choose the area they would like to specialise in.
"The housemanship years are the stepping stone towards specialisation," said Mr Cassar.
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