Medical students are still in the dark five months since the signing of an agreement between the government and the University of Malta over a €200 million private-public partnership in health.

Their frustration was yesterday amplified as they got to know “that parts of our healthcare will be sold to private companies”, according to Alexander Clayman, student representative on the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery board.

Mr Clayman, a fourth year student, was referring to a “leaked letter” signed by the Barts School of Medicine and Dentistry Dean for Education.

The letter, which appears to have been sent to doctors on the medical council register, is dated April 26, and notes that teaching will start in September of 2017, with the main bulk of clinical teaching beginning in 2019.

It invites medically qualified people to join a programme implementation board, whose members will be appointed as honorary clinical lecturers and could be promoted to senior lecturers, clinical readers and clinical professors.

"We recognise that we are inviting you to become involved during what is a period of change in delivery of healthcare in Malta: there are significant plans to expand the sector and some of what has traditionally been delivered entirely from the public sector will now also be delivered from the private sector," the letter reads.

Mr Clayman expressed disappointment that despite trying to contact the ministry over the past weeks, they were only receiving information from third parties.

In March of last year, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat unveiled a plan that would see the private sector asked to develop and run the Gozo and St Luke's hospitals under a government investment proposal worth €200 million.

This was distinct from an agreement signed with Barts, a faculty within Queen Mary University of London, to open a medical school in Gozo.

In January of this year, the government and the University of Malta signed an agreement that would outline how the local university, Mater Dei and Barts would be working in tandem with the €200 million project, which was entrusted to Vitalis Global Healthcare group.

Medical students have been voicing their concern since 2014, when the government announced an agreement between the Health Ministry and the Queen Mary University of London for the opening of a medical school in Malta.

Medical students had said they had not been informed on how clinical resources at Mater Dei would be utilised once the Barts Medical and Dental School was set up.

The students were especially worried about capacity, which, they said, was already a problem and it could get even worse with the arrival of students from Barts Medical School.