The Gozo Medical School has been officially opened by the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today.
In front of around 200 guests including staff, student representatives and local dignitaries, Dr Muscat cut a ribbon to mark the building’s formal opening.
The Barts Medical School on the Gozo General Hospital Campus started welcoming students at the end of October [1].
The four-storey 8,100 square metre building is situated next to Gozo General Hospital. and includes – A 140-seat auditorium Two smaller lecture theatres that can combine into a 120-seat facility; Two computer labs (each with capacity for 70 students) and teaching rooms and clinical skills rooms.
The new facilities also include a library, student support services, a large canteen/social space and offices.
Dr Muscat in his speech described the new facilities as “a pole of investment around which a new community will be based.”
He continued by saying, “we are providing this island and this country with a world class medical education in what is arguably the best facility in the Mediterranean. What has been achieved is not a run-of-the-mill facility but a new benchmark for everyone around this region. It represents a reversal of fortune for the island.”
He hailed the partnership between the Maltese government and “Queen Mary, one of the UK’s top education institutions and Steward Health Care, the foremost provider of healthcare in the United States.”
Addressing students, Dr Muscat assured them that they are seen not as numbers but as a new diaspora that will always be welcome on Gozo and in Malta.
Queen Mary launched a five-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme taught on the Mediterranean islands of the Maltese Republic two years ago. Its third cohort of students arrived to start their studies in September.
Professor Steve Thornton, Vice Principal (Health) of Queen Mary University of London praised the partnerships forged with the Government of Malta, Steward Health Care who constructed the new facility and then the Gozo General Hospital.
“The delivery of this world class clinical teaching facility is more than bricks and mortar: to Queen Mary, and I hope to our communities and partners, it is emblematic of our commitment to delivering an exciting future for healthcare in Malta,” he said.
Professor Thornton concluded by saying that, “Queen Mary prides itself on being a truly global university and it prizes above all the diversity of its student and staff communities. It is therefore incredibly gratifying that we have been able to attract so many international students to the country to learn here and to become members of the Maltese community.”
The MBBS is taught in English by Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary and has been designed to provide students with the medical knowledge, clinical skills and professional attitudes that are required to become a competent Foundation Year (FY1) Doctor.
It uses the same curriculum as the MBBS in London, and results in the award of a Medicine MBBS from Queen Mary University of London.
The campus Director of Operations, Fiona Wilson, emphasised that the University is determined that the new facility will be widely used and will be an asset for the community.
She explained that, “although the facility will service the needs of our undergraduate medical students, we are already looking at a number of other medical courses and programmes – including short professional development courses for clinical staff and summer schools for medical students.”
“However we also want to open it up to our local partners and the wider community in Malta and particularly for Gozo residents,” she said. “It is very important to us that we are seen as being embedded in life on Gozo.”
“We will announce shortly the date of the first of many Open Days so local people can see for themselves the quality of this facility and discuss how we can work with them to make the best use of it,” Ms Wilson concluded.
Queen Mary University of London Gozo Student President Ehsan Gauher said, “this facility gives us the best opportunity to excel in our learning and I have no doubt that graduates from this medical school will go on to make fantastic doctors. We will have a positive impact on patients and the wider community, whether that be here or in other places around the world.”
2 Comments To "Gozo Medical School officially opened by the Prime Minister"
#1 Comment By Lino DeBono On November 22, 2019 @ 4:17 pm
Now who can say that the Government & the Gozo Ministry is only there to tie some ribbons to trees in roundabouts?
This innovative project for Gozo is worth a million. Apart from Gozo ever having it’s own University, this will enhance our Islands with a First Class Medical School run and directed by a World Class renown English Institution named “Bart’s”.
This project will also project Gozo around the whole world especially amongst Medical Students – Patients and put Gozo on the World Map.
The American Steward Medical Company is also renowned in the World. So between these two Institutions, Gozo will only have a beneficial outcome.
Secondly, now that the Gozo University have been passed by Government to the Malta University, maybe the hundreds of Gozitan University Students at present attending courses at the Malta University, can now dream of MAYBE they can also have classes in Gozo itself if and where there are enough Students in certain Courses.
Lastly, modern technology has also provided T.V./Audio lecturing. This also can be applied to Gozitan University Students.
Where there’s a Will, there’s A Way. All it needs is a little effort, planning & vision.
#2 Comment By Ray On November 22, 2019 @ 5:33 pm
It’s just unfortunate that the health care trust that runs Bart’s teaching Hospital amongst others has been in ‘special measures’ for finance and quality reasons for the last 4 years and as I understand it, according to local press, Steward are yet to invest any of their own money here.!