Some 40 doctors currently lecturing at the university’s medical school have expressed interest in teaching at Barts medical school in Gozo, which opens its doors later this year.
Health Minister Chris Fearne said in Parliament recently that some 200 doctors had expressed interest in lecturing at the new medical school set to open in September. The school would operate at the new Gozo Hospital, run by Vitals Global Healthcare.
The Health Ministry came to an agreement with the Queen Mary University of London on the opening of a medical school in Malta in an attempt to brand the island internationally within the medical sector.
Our medical school could do with modernising its programme
A spokeswoman for Barts told this newspaper that the hospital was in the process of gathering information and inviting doctors who might be interested to get in touch. According to the spokeswoman, some 20 per cent of those who expressed interest said they had “some affiliation with the University of Malta”.
“It is not clear if this means that they are regular employees or if they undertake some sessional work for the university. However, any appointment with QMUL/Barts would depend on an individual having the capacity to undertake this work.
“Should staff with an association with the University of Malta apply, there is absolutely no intention on our part to require anyone to teach exclusively for us,” the spokeswoman told the Times of Malta.
In the past, some in the industry have expressed concern that the opening of a new medical school could deplete resources from the University of Malta’s medical school.
Among them were students who feared that more lucrative packages offered by the new medical school would attract University of Malta staff.
Medical students’ representative Alexander Clayman told this newspaper that while the school was doing a good job, “diluting the medical school’s clinical and education resources would not do it any favours”.
“Our medical school could do with modernising its programme: the way it teaches and examines its undergraduate students and the way it handles student affairs is just as archaic as the rest of the university – so perhaps having Barts breathing down its neck, threatening to outshine it will startle our faculty in the direction of positive change.
“An earthquake isn’t a good thing, but it trains us to make better buildings,” Mr Clayman said. Meanwhile, when contacted, the Health Ministry said Barts would be taking measures to ensure that the development of its medical school “will not damage the University of Malta course”.
“This was a commitment that three senior members of Queen Mary University reiterated only last week in a meeting with the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Malta and his deputy,” a ministry spokeswoman said.
Many of the doctors, the spokeswoman added, would be working on a part-time basis.