The age-old expression ‘laughter is the best medicine’ sprung to life at Mater Dei yesterday morning, as the hospital welcomed Malta’s first cohort of clown doctors.
Ranging from the blundering Dr Ferfesh to the upbeat Dr Gimme 5, the 11 volunteer clown doctors will work in groups of two or three to entertain hospitalised children on Saturdays.
The project is the work of local NGO Dr Klown and treads a path first explored by Hunter Doherty ‘Patch’ Adams, the American doctor immortalised in the 1998 Hollywood film Patch Adams.
“This is a dream come true,” Dr Klown chairman Maria Delicata told gathered guests.
“It’s been proven that people are healthier when their spirits are high, and Dr Klown’s clown doctors will help improve the quality of life of sick children in hospital,” she said.
Apart from the 11 clown doctors, the seven members of the Dr Klown organisation team come from a range of medical, artistic and professional backgrounds.
The clown doctors have all been screened and received rigorous training in how to deal with sick children within a medical setting, clinical psychologist Edward Curmi explained.
Clown doctors would also be monitored and receive psychological support in order to help them cope with any eventual psychological trauma they might experience, he added.
In a brief address, Health Minister Joe Cassar congratulated the Dr Klown team and volunteer clowns for their “excellent” initiative, and said the scheme further underlined the importance of voluntary work becoming increasingly specialised.
The clown doctors are all voluntary, and the project will first focus on outpatients before the clowns gradually move into children’s wards, Dr Klown artistic officer Jean Pierre Busuttil explained.
“All the doctors and nurses have been informed about the clown doctors. In fact, doctors will tell the clowns which patients they can talk to and how they can handle them,” he said.
He admitted hospital staff might be apprehensive initially, but said fears would dissipate once they saw the clowns in action.
“Each clown has a different personality, so some clowns might spend more time with certain children than with others, depending on their specific needs.”
Having been introduced, the clown doctors proceeded to create an a cappella musical piece, each clown adding a layer of sound.
The performance ended with a bang, confetti spraying into the air and onto applauding guests – the first of several smiles these clowns hope to provoke.