Foreign doctors make up for loss of graduates

Malta has cured the medical brain drain it experienced a few years ago even though more Maltese graduates are opting for placements in the UK.

A fourth of graduating Maltese doctors have this year opted for postgraduate programmes in the UK, the highest rate since 2007, when alarm bells were sounded about the medical brain drain.

But thanks to more graduates and foreigners coming to practise in Malta, there are now more junior doctors joining Mater Dei Hospital than there are graduates leaving Medical School.

This year, 54 of the 72 Maltese graduates enrolled into Mater Dei’s foundation programme, with the rest opting for placements in the UK. But this loss has been more than balanced out with 85 new recruits at the foundation programme including 31 foreigners.

By comparison, in 2007, there were 55 Maltese graduates and 35 of them opted to practise at Mater Dei.

After similarly worrying figures emerged in 2008, the government set up a post­graduate foundation programme and the turnaround began immediately.

166

The number of new doctors enrolled at Mater Dei in the past 24 months

Following steady improvements in 2009 and 2010, last year saw all but one of the 61 Maltese graduates staying here and an additional 21 coming from abroad. This year, more doctors left but more were recruited.

Eighteen fresh Maltese graduates left to the UK after the British government’s boost of private hospitals created more attractive placements. But 31 foreigners, including three British doctors, overcompensated for the difference. So whereas between 2007 and 2008 there were a total of 73 doctors joining the national hospital, the number of new doctors enrolling in the past 24 months is more than double that figure, reaching 166, thanks to 52 foreigners.

“This is very encouraging,” a Health Ministry spokesman said. “Despite the significant number of applicants who have declined a post, the rising trend of an annual increase in the numbers of doctors joining the workforce has prevailed.”

The trend of graduates being exchanged across countries had “significant advantages” and was therefore not discouraged, as long as the supply of doctors remained adequate, the spokesman said, adding that the current rate of intake was “excellent”.

The Malta Foundation School awards the same final certificate as that issued by any foundation school in the UK as it went through the UK quality assurance processes and was granted affiliation.

“All this has made it possible for Maltese and graduates from overseas to spend their first two years training in Malta and then decide whether they want to continue training here or leave for the UK or any other country, while ensuring a consistent adequate number of medical officers in the local health care system,” the ministry spokesman said.

Ann Farrugia, president of the Malta Medical Students Association, said the foundation in Malta was doing its best to keep doctors here and the programme being offered was “very good”. She said graduates who were opting for the UK could be doing so because of the attractively paid placements on offer but the living expenses in the UK were higher than in Malta.

Some doctors might also be leaving for the sense of “adventure”. “Speaking for myself, it is quite enticing to leave home and gain experience in the UK,” she said, adding that doctors had the right to decide where to seek further training and work.

The situation would only become tricky if there was a shortage of doctors in Malta or if the influx of foreign doctors resulted in a “language barrier” with some patients, Ms Farrugia, a fourth year MD student, added.