The Gozo Business Chamber said in a statement today that it welcomes the news that the Government has today signed an agreement with the renowned medical school, Barts of London, to set up a Medical school in Gozo.

Complimentary to this project, the Government is also investing to upgrade the Gozo General Hospital so that it can take up to 450 beds. The new bed allocations will serve better both the local population as well as provide a new niche in medical tourism for the island.

The GBC said that both these projects “are much needed for Gozo as they will, not only uplift Gozo’s standing in the medical world but also be a source of job creation on the island. This will help to slow down and hopefully stop the hemorrhage of Gozo’s youngsters from the island.”

While promising all the help that it can offer, the Gozo Business Chamber also said that it augurs well for the completion of these projects for the benefit of all.

The Prime Minister announced today that “under the terms of the proposed public-private partnership the private investor will be responsible for the capital expenditure and will be given the facility to operate a private hospital on both sites.”

The Government hover, will also be contracting hundreds of beds for use by the public health system.

An agreement was signed this morning for the opening of a medical campus on the site of the Gozo Hospital, which will be Barts first overseas medical campus, hosting 300 students, with the first intake expected by the end of next year.

A new acute 250-bed hospital in Gozo is to be built alongside the medical campus and the current building will transform into a 175-bed geriatric hospital.

125 of the acute beds will be used by the investor for fee paying foreigners, with the aim of attracting medical tourism in Gozo.

Malta Enterprise said that The Government and Malta Enterprise have signed an agreement with the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry which will pave the way for a €200 million investment in the country’s healthcare infrastructure and create 1,200 new healthcare related jobs in Malta and Gozo.

“Barts is one of Britain’s leading medical and dental schools with 1,600 undergraduate and 750 postgraduate students. It has a reputation for impressive research across many disciplines. In the Complete University Guide 2015, Barts ranks 4th in the UK for medicine and 1st in the UK for dentistry.”

Malta Enterprise said that “as a result of the agreement, Barts will be setting up a Gozo Campus which will host 300 mostly foreign students with an intake of 60 students for every academic year. The investment, which is by far the biggest direct foreign investment Gozo has ever seen, places Gozo on the world map as it will become known for producing some of the finest medics in Europe.”

The Gozo Campus and its undergraduate courses will be marketed around the globe, with a good number of students expected from around Europe, North America and the Middle East.

The investment in the Campus is part of a larger, more ambitious step change in healthcare in Malta which will see a significant improvement in the facilities, including the redevelopment of the Gozo General Hospital, as well as the renovation of St Luke’s Hospital and Karin Grech.

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