Malta - Valletta - Triq il-Mediterran-Triq it-Tramuntana - Mediterranean Conference Centre 01 ies

Malta has a long history of providing

publicly funded health care Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are se ...

. The first hospital recorded in the country was already functioning by 1372. Today, Malta has both a public healthcare system, known as the government healthcare service, where healthcare is free at the point of delivery, and a private healthcare system. Malta has a strong general practitioner-delivered primary care base and the public hospitals provide secondary and tertiary care. The Maltese Ministry of Health advises foreign residents to take out private medical insurance.

Comparisons

In 2000, Malta was ranked number five in the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

's ranking of the world's health systems, compared to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(at 37),

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(at 32),

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

(at 18) and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(at 30). The healthcare system in Malta closely resembles the British system, as healthcare is free at the point of delivery. It moved up four places in the Euro health consumer index from position 27 in 2014 to 23 in 2015. It was said to have decent accessibility to healthcare, but indifferent treatment results.

Facilities

The Mater Dei Hospital, Malta's primary hospital, opened in 2007. It has one of the largest medical buildings in Europe. The

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

has a

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

and a Faculty of

Health Sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences are those sciences which focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple acad ...

, the latter offering diploma, degree (BSc) and postgraduate degree courses in a number of health care disciplines. Malta also has voluntary organisations such as the Emergency Fire & Rescue Unit (E.F.R.U.), St John Ambulance and Red Cross Malta who provide first aid services during events involving crowds. The

Medical Association of Malta The Medical Association of Malta is a professional association for doctors in Malta. It is affiliated to the World Medical Association. It was founded, initially as the Medical Officers Union, in 1954 by Dr Vincent Tabone. Mr. Gordon Caruana Ding ...

represents practitioners of the medical profession. The

Malta Medical Students' Association The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Associa ...

(MMSA) is a separate body representing Maltese medical students, and is a member of EMSA and

IFMSA The International Federation of Medical Students' Associations (IFMSA) is a non-governmental organization representing associations of medical students. It was founded in May 1951 and currently maintains 139 member organizations from 130 countr ...

. MIME, the Maltese Institute for Medical Education, is an institute set up recently to provide CME to physicians in Malta as well as medical students. The

Foundation Program A foundation programme, foundation program, foundation year, foundation year programme or foundation year program is a one-year introductory course to a full multi-year degree curriculum offered by many universities in the Commonwealth and elsewher ...

followed in the UK has been introduced in Malta to stem the 'brain drain' of newly graduated physicians to the British Isles. The Malta Association of Dental Students (MADS) is a student association set up to promote the rights of Dental Surgery Students studying within the faculty of Dental Surgery of the University of Malta. It is affiliated with IADS, the International Association of Dental Students. A 30-year concession on healthcare services in the Gozo, Karin Grech and St Lukes hospitals was granted to Vitals Global Healthcare in 2015. The

objected because of "the complete lack of experience of the operator, and the dangers of government relinquishing its control of management and the resulting profit motive.” In January 2018 it was transferred to

Steward Global Healthcare Steward Health Care is the largest physician-owned private for-profit health care network in the United States and attends to 2.2 million people during more than twelve million physician and hospital visits annually. Headquartered in Dallas, Stewa ...

and precipitated a doctors' strike.

References

{{Health care in Europe

Comparisons

Facilities

See also

References