Maltese Medical History
The Surgeons in Malta are all FRCS from the UK and experienced, with a long
record of successful operations.
St James Capua Hospital is luxurious with the latest technology and for Joint
replacement, the theatre is specially equipped with a sophisticated air control
function that is essential for orthopaedic surgery.
The strong links between UK and Malta have been in existence for two hundred
years, ever since the British Navy helped the Maltese persuade Napoleon to
leave. And before that, during the Crusades, the Knights of St. John were
established in the twelfth century to sustain the Crusade Army in its journey
from Europe to take over the Holy City of Jerusalem. Part of that sustenance was
to provide a hospital service.
After the Crusades, the Knights of St. John carried on, first based in Rhodes,
and then arriving in Malta in the 16th Century. The leaders of the Knights were
also the effective rulers of Malta, and were always appointed by France, Italy
or England and were citizens of that country. Thus the close connection between
Malta and Europe continued, especially in the Medical Field, where the Hospital
in Malta was the first in Europe to only allow one patient in each bed. A major
advance in Medicine at the time. The hospital is still open today as a museum.
After Napoleon left the British arrived, and there is today a rich heritage of
British Hospital Architecture still on the Island, dating from the early
nineteenth century, including the first patient lift that carried injured seamen
from the quayside up 30 metres to the hospital above. From this period when
Malta was a British colony, the medical and nursing professions were an extension of the
UK in Law and in clinical practice. When Malta became an independent Republic
25years ago, the standards set in the medical and nursing professions have
carried on, so that even today NHS Consultants in Malta are only appointed when
they have achieved the equivalence of a UK Consultant. The Royal College of
Nursing also ensures high standards in Maltese nursing.
I (Alistair McDougall) have worked as the Deputy Chief Executive of
The Royal
Marsden Hospital in London, and as the Chief Executive of
St. Luke’s Hospital in
Malta (an 800 bed acute general hospital serving the whole Island of 350,000
people), so I am in a unique position to compare medical and nursing services in
both countries. The NHS problems in both countries are the same, underfunding,
long waiting lists and the struggle to buy sophisticated medical equipment, such
as the latest ITU bed equipment, NMR, lithotripsy, a cath. Lab., laparoscopic
equipment, the latest dialysis machines or a Sleep lab. However like the UK the
NHS Hospital service in Malta improves in Quality if not in Quantity , with
their first heart transplant being carried out in 1998. And in Malta as in the
UK there is a thriving private hospital sector.
I quickly became aware that standards in Malta in the Medical and Nursing
profession were as good as in the UK, and in many cases better, so when I
returned to UK and saw the length of the NHS waiting lists and the high cost of
UK private medicine, the move to medical treatment overseas in St James Capua
Hospital, Malta was the only sensible solution. UK patients on an NHS waiting
list can afford treatment in Malta, that is if he/she can afford to buy another
car, a new suite of furniture, a new kitchen or a holiday abroad and on
the same financial terms.
Many UK patients have been successfully treated in
St James Capua Hospital, Malta ,
625 over the last two years.
Please be assured that I can send you information without obligation.
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