Students yesterday held a mock funeral to "mourn the death of free medical education" as Barts representatives met the University of Malta to finalise details about a new doctors’ school.
The students – who carried a makeshift coffin and distributed memorial cards as the universities’ representatives walked into the meeting – insisted that the privatisation of medical education in Malta would have a disastrous effect on the whole sector.
“The repercussions of the privatisation of medical education in Malta, courtesy of Barts and all those facilitating them, will be insidious and will set the stage for further similar transgressions over time.
“The effects won’t be felt by us right now but by future generations,” medical student Matthew Drake said as he handed out the memorial cards.
The effects won’t be felt by us right now but by future generations
Students have for months been voicing their concerns about the new medical school, which will form part of the Gozo General Hospital complex when Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) redevelops it into a state-of-the-art facility.
The University of Malta has repeatedly dismissed claims that Barts, expected to open its doors in September, would have a negative impact on the existing medical school.
In comments to Times of Malta last month, Medicine and Surgery Faculty dean Godfrey LaFerla said a joint committee was set up to ensure better coordination of timetables between the two schools.
Yet, despite the dean’s reassurances, the students still believe that having a second medical school would put pressure on clinical resources used by students.
Another medical student, Tom Calleja, warned that the opening of Barts was the first step towards privatisation of medical services.
“We should be proud we provide healthcare and education through our taxes. However, we must remain vigilant and not take them for granted. The Barts contract is part of a larger pattern of slowly and insidiously privatising these services,” Mr Calleja said.
Student representative Alexander Clayman agreed with his peers, adding students were worried that medical education and patients were being “turned into a business”.
“The taxpayers have paid for hospitals over the years and now they are being given to a private company that will charge its students to learn in a hospital that was paid for by the taxpayers. Where’s the justice in that?” Mr Clayman asked.
On why the students decided to hold the symbolic funeral, the student representative said that, since its inception in 1971, the medical school was never motivated by money but it now seemed that all this was changing.
“We are mourning the end of this period. Hospitals are there to serve people and not to make money for the few,” he said.
The medical school was to open its doors last September but delays in the project pushed the first student intake to this year.
So far, the government has refused to publish the agreement with Barts as Health Minister Chris Fearne insisted its contents were confidential.
Students have for months voiced their concerns that the new hospital could have a negative impact on the University of Malta’s medical school. Photo: Steve Zammit Lupi