Maltese medical students were told they’ll be earning money through Barts Medical School by acting as interpreters between the foreign students and patients, according to MEP Therese Comodini Cachia.
Addressing an activity marking her second year as an MEP, Dr Comodini Cachia said that, as the Opposition’s shadow minister for education, she was closely following the issue revolving around Barts Medical School.
But in a reply issued this afternoon, the government said that Dr Comodini Cachia had failed to understand "the basic facts" surrounding the government deal with Barts.
What “pained” her most, Dr Comodini Cachia had said, was how a Barts representative attempted to placate concerned Maltese medical students by telling them that Barts will allow them to earn money by acting as interpreters for their foreign students.
She lambasted the fact that the State will be remunerating specialists who take up clinical tutor posts with Barts, adding that the government was incapable of discerning between good and bad investment.
“I’m very concerned: the State will be paying for their lecturers but Barts’ students will be paying their fees to them, not to us,” she told her audience.
I’m very concerned: the State will be paying for their lecturers but Barts’ students will be paying their fees to them, not to us
“And what about those Maltese patients whom Barts’ students will be conducting their clinical placements on – will they be paying for the hospital service? Or will we be the ones who’ll be covering that aspect of their education?”
The level of quality offered by Barts depended on clinical placements and, therefore, the need to increase the hospital bed count. Dr Comodini Cachia said the government was arguing that the number of beds would increase through the new hospital in Gozo, a hospital at St Luke’s and a hospital at Smart City.
The Gozo and St Luke’s hospitals will be developed by Vitalis Healthcare, the consortium that has entered into a public-private partnership with the government. The Smart City hospitals is a private investment by Italian entrepreneurs that has raised eyebrows in the Italian media.
“We already know what the Italians are saying about the hospital at Smart City and no foundation stone has yet been laid in Gozo. And the first intake of students is expected this year. It’s all very unclear.” In order for Barts Medical School to operate, Mater Dei Hospital patients and University of Malta students will in turn be affected, Dr Comodini Cachia continued.
Moreover, would foreign patients who travel to Malta to undergo an operation in privacy be comfortable with having consultants teaching students during the operation, she asked.
'Basic facts' - government reply
In a statement, the Health Ministry said that a number of statements Dr Comodini Cachia had made were incorrect. It however failed to address claims that students would be tapped to act as interpreters.
The private hospital at Smart City had "nothing to do" with the €210 million partnership with Vitalis Global Healthcare, it said.
Works on the Gozo hospital's foundations were underway and the first batch of students was expected in September 2017 and not this year, the ministry said.
"Much of Barts students' training will occur at Gozo General Hospital and St Luke's, as has been explained many times," the statement read.