Medical students lament broken promises, lack of transparency on Barts Medical School

Medical students from the University of Malta, represented by the University’s student council – KSU – and the Malta Medical Student’s Association (MMSA), have lamented broken promises and a sheer lack of transparency on the part of the Ministry for Health on the subject of Barts Medical School, noting that the situation as stands is going to be of detriment to them and is going to strain the resources at Mater Dei Hospital.

Speaking in a press conference on Friday – a mere two days before the start of the scholastic year – KSU President William Farrugia said that the situation, which has been ongoing since 2015, had deteriorated to the point that a formal press conference was the only option.

Farrugia noted that various assurances and promises had been broken, and spoke of a lack of transparency and even communication from the Ministry of Health on the issues risked having negative effects on the education of prospective doctors at the University of Malta, all for the advantage of a private entity – that being Barts Medical School.

Last May, an Extraordinary General Meeting was called by MMSA where a document of requests and safeguards was unanimously approved by the attending student body along

with a petition signed by over half of the organisation’s members.

The resolution demanded basic requests and safeguards and was subsequently presented by MMSA representatives to the Health Minister himself Chris Fearne.

“Here MMSA made a request for official reassurances that resources in Mater Dei Hospital will be sustainably allocated to Barts Medical School without being of detriment to the University of Malta student body and the standard of education they receive,” Farrugia said.

However the request seemed to have fallen on deaf ears; the Ministry never got back to MMSA in spite of several reminders, therefore igniting feelings that the genuine concerns of the medical student body are not being taken seriously enough, especially when considering the multiple assurances that were given and broken, along with the absolute lack of transparency and communication by the respective authorities, Farrugia said.

A letter demanding an urgent meeting on this matter was received by the Ministry on 20 September, however no official reply has been received, the KSU President lamented.

Farrugia noted that the only form of communication that had been received was an unofficial request for a meeting with the Director General of the Department of Health Services Clarence Pace. Farrugia said that this request was made through a phone call to the MMSA President Omar Chircop, only mere hours before the press conference that they were addressing - and naturally, after the same press conference was called.

Elaborating on the assurances which were broken by the Health Ministry, Chircop said that the original promise had been that the students from Barts will have their clinical practice at Gozo General Hospital, with that hospital handling more patients there; but, he said, this was always a questionable promise given that the number of patients in Gozo are what they are.

“We always wanted transparency but we didn’t get this,” Chircop said before noting that the contract between the Health Ministry and Barts was never revealed, save for a redacted version in Parliament which covered up what was most important.

“We were always asking the authorities and each time they told us that the situation will not affect us; but this is not the case,” he said.

He said that the organisation has now filed a Freedom of Information request to know what these contracts and documents say and what will happen to their education.

Meanwhile however, assurances given to them by the Ministry of Health have all been broken, Chircop said.

One major concern that Chircop mentioned is that the number of Barts students who will be present at Mater Dei Hospital at any particular point in time is constantly increasing.

The initial number was that of 10, then increased to 16 and then, just a couple of days before the start of Barts placements, it increased to 18.

“MMSA is logically worried that this trend will progress further, hence reaching even more critical numbers, especially when considering that Barts Medical School maximum capacity is 60 students per year. This would result in an additional 180 Barts students to the 465 already making use of the Mater Dei Medical School,” he said.

“Is there space in Mater Dei for this amount? Is this sustainable?” Chircop questioned.

Chircop noted that MMSA was previously given assurances that the UM Medical School Library and simulation rooms will not be used by Barts Medical School students. However, he said that it had been brought to their attention that this may indeed be happening.

“These resources are already extremely limited when considering that the library’s capacity of 64 caters for 465 clinical UM students,” he said while noting that there is currently only space for 14 students at one go in the simulation rooms.

It was previously understood that Barts Medical School students will be integrated into already established UM medical students’ groups for clinical attachments in order to make all teaching consultants available to both UM and Barts students at any point in time, Chircop said.

However, recently MMSA was informed that Barts Medical School administration has been attempting to segregate Barts students into separate groups, hence limiting the number of consultants available to UM medical students at a given time.

“This would be of great detriment to the UM students, especially for clinical placements in certain specialities with limited human resources such as Neurology, Dermatology and Oncology where the number of consultants available is as little as 4,” they said.

“We want fairness and a situation where our resources are not taken for another university. If they cannot be split in a sustainable manner, then there is the need for more investment so that both Universities can produce high quality doctors,” he said.

It is on these points that Chircop said students would like assurances on. In the meantime, Barts students will start their clinical experience at Mater Dei on 7 October, while University of Malta students remain in the dark over the aforementioned matters.