Hello and welcome to another very late update of my blog... But I'm sure you will excuse the delay, because I have some very fresh and very important news. So important that I've broken my self-imposed computer use ban to post them... Read on !
A few days ago, I heard something on the grapevine about an imminent visit to our university by people from St.George's... Great, I thought to myself, after RCSI there's now yet another bloody medical school franchise that wants to strip UoM Medical School of its good lecturers and take over Mater Dei...
So I started asking around, to see what's going on (..again !).
One of the people I talked to was kind enough to show me a document circulated to all medical staff and signed by our dean. What this document said is that the UoM Medical School and the SGUL Medical School are looking into the possibility of setting up a four-year graduate-entry medical course together.
I don't remember the exact text, but it was pointed out that the partnership would be equal and that the new four-year programme will run in harmony with the existing UoM five-year programme. So the whole thing is not a franchise, and the UoM would actually be gaining financially from it ! Sounds better than the RCSI proposal to me...
All I want to know now is what they are planning to do to avoid congestion at Mater Dei, and how much time our consultants will have to devote to the four-year course. If they solve those two issues, then the news of this partnership are very good news indeed.
If anybody knows more, please share your information ! I'll keep asking around and will let you know what I find out...
20 comments:
I have been hearing rumours about this. I think that competition is good and anything that can push the university of malta into the 21 century is an excellent idea.
That's what the RCSI 'threat' seems to have done... this bilateral agreement with St. George's could be a step in the right direction, if it brings funds into the Med School's coffers. Local student interests will have to be safeguarded first, though, but as I understand it, the faculty have approached students for their feedback... all good signs, I think.
I have been reading this blog for a while and am of the impression that you are either very biased or very misinformed. You have complained in earlier posts that the RCSI is bad news because it will tread on UoMs toes and affect the students while this St George's partnership is supposedly a better option. I could write for ages about this but let me give you some key points to dwell on. St George's deal would cost the UOM money as they will have to put money up to deal with the extra influx of students. Georges is not going to expect nothing in return. They will obv pay some costs but they expect 50/50. That means the students would directly share everything and as a med student i know how scarce resources are already so this will be of detriment to us. I dont see how this will help with the "brain drain" that is currently going on with a large number of student leaving Malta.
final point is that the RCSI is not a franchise and i would be very interested in findingyour source for calling it so. It will be run by RCSI and not franchised out to Mlatese. It will have nothing to do with UoM and bring in its own tutors but at the same time allowing us to use their equipment and developing a link with a top international med school. Ok we may have to share some resources but this will not be on the same scale as with George's. Apart from these benefits, the way i see it is that RCSI is a better choice as it is a stand alone school that will share mater dei and will generate a large amount of money for the Maltese economy while St George's wont. St George's will raise our international name but at what costs? If you look at the facts it will not surprise you that many people that I have met support my view.
As I have mentioned in the respective post, everything I know about the UoM/SGUL cooperation comes from the dean's letter to the consultants. So if you believe that the dean chose to misinform his colleagues, please consider me equally misinformed.
I don't know any details about the economic side of the UoM/SGUL deal, but I am sure that the UoM wouldn't have bothered if they hadn't made sure that they'll make more money out of it than they will invest.
And what better proof of how profitable this whole fast-track medical school concept is than the RCSI proposal itself ! So I'm afraid that your first argument is a little bit weak.
Regarding the scarce resources, since the fast-track students and the five-year students will be sharing them, they should definitely be upgraded or things will be very bad for both courses.
So I'm with you on that one, and I'm waiting to see how the UoM/SGUL proposal will tackle this issue.
The brain-drain issue is irrelevant. Both the RCSI proposal and the UoM/SGUL proposal are targeted towards foreign students, who will come to Malta, study for four years and then go back home. Maltese graduates can enter the 5-year course for free, so I don't think anyone will be crazy enough to pay thousands of euros for the sake of saving a year...
Still, I think we should discuss the brain-drain issue some time. I have to start another post and we can all list our reasons for wanting to leave the island. Then maybe someone can forward the list to MMSA and with a bit of luck it might even reach the medical school or even the ministry of health and make people think...
Anyway, back to your comment :
From what has been announced, the RCSI will not use foreign tutors exclusively, but a mixture of local and foreign ones. So it will cause problems to the UoM, by recruiting the best lecturers and leaving us with the "less desirable" ones.
And it would indeed be nice to use their equipment, but they want to use "our" hospital in exchange. And, being a clinical student, I am sure you have realised that you learn 100 times more at the hospital than in front of books or silly simulation software.
Last but not least, do you really believe that the proposal of a private Irish college will benefit Malta more than the proposal of the actual public University of Malta ? If you do, you will allow me to completely disagree !
Further to the above comments, no-one really knows what the nitty-gritty details of any possible deal may be, either from the RCSI or the SGUL schools, so any discussion on economics will be a moot point because at this stage, nobody's right as there's no info. to prove or disprove.
Presumably, the new rector at the UoM is going to keep finances quite firmly in mind, and for him to back this SGUL issue must mean that there's some good revenue coming into the UoM's coffers. While this is all presumtion, one would imagine that some lectures and tutorials would have to start happening in the afternoon, for whichever stream of students - for that to happen remuneration must be more attractive than doctors' private practice.
I agree with the foreigner, that the scope of these outside schools has absoloutely nothing to do with the brain drain - the RCSI might plan to have some post-grad courses in surgery and/or anaesthesia, but rest assured that the selection on offer here will not compare with that offered in the entirety of the UK. You might keep an extra 5% per year, but when the crunch comes to the crunch, work experience abroad is looked highly upon when applying for high-powered posts.
And another thing: this mannequin business... aside from it not being the same as practicing on live patients, the RCSI is unlikely to allow access to their million dollar robot lab per gratis. The UoM would probably have to pay some fee for students to use it. Saying the lab will be made available isn't the same as saying the lab will be a free for all.
No offer is without its negatives, but something under the control of our own medical school is more likely to preserve our best interests. Let's not forget that.
Dear Year 3 "student": Re: "St George's deal would cost the UOM money as they will have to put money up to deal with the extra influx of students. Georges is not going to expect nothing in return. They will obv pay some costs but they expect 50/50."
As the foreigner said, it is very unlikely that the uni would bother investing in this partnership unless there was money to be made. Why do you think RCSI is so keen to expand here? What makes you think that George's expect 50/50?
Re: "the way i see it is that RCSI is a better choice as it is a stand alone school that will share mater dei and will generate a large amount of money for the Maltese economy while St George's wont. St George's will raise our international name but at what costs?"
When you talk about sharing mater dei, you really mean patients, as that is where we learn. How will RCSI tutors access patients? Remember that a consultant has the final responsibilty for the patients under his/her care, and it is certainly not given that a foreign tutor will be able to waltz in and "teach" on mater dei patients. This part of the equation is still very fuzzy.
The RCSI deal will generate a large amount of money but most of it will go straight back to RCSI. The money that stays here is the living expenses of the students and perhaps the building costs (I heard they have applied for a MEPA permit!) That's peanuts compared to student fees of 42K Euros per year at the RCSI.
I am glad you agree that St George's will raise our international name. I am more interested in quality assurance. The partnership with St George's will assist the uni in raising the standards of medical education. I can't wait!!
READ & DISCUSS
4th October 2007.
RCSI Programme
Find detailed below, some realisable benefits to the Medical community of Malta and its people as a result of the potential long term relationship between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the relevant Ministries and the Medical Profession in Malta.
1. Medical Education
• Opportunity to develop shared teaching facilities with the University of Malta, such as Clinical Skills Teaching laboratory, Medical Library, etc
• The availability to Maltese Medical students to undertake electives in Ireland
• Because of RCSI expertise in E learning, the potential for the transfer of some of this knowledge to the University of Malta. Examples at RCSI include the Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle), Basic Electronic Surgical Training Programme (BeST), etc.
• RCSI will provide a number of full or partial scholarships for suitably qualified Maltese citizens who wish to undertake its Graduate Entry Programme.
• In economic terms the Graduate School when at its full compliment of students will generate somewhere between €8 – 10 million spend to the Maltese economy.
2. Benefits to local academics and clinicians
• Employment for Maltese Clinicians and Academics
• Increased ability to retain highly trained clinicians in the public sector
• Access to the RCSI Electronic Library
• RCSI programmes in Medical Teacher Training available to all Maltese Clinicians and Academics. These will include Training the Trainers and Examiner Training.
3. Research
RCSI has developed a highly successful Research Pillar over the last decade with particular emphasis on Translational Research. At present there are:
• 270 Active Research Grants
• 152 Funded Research Staff
• 57 PhD students
In 2006, RCSI received research funding totalling €17 million. A total of 51% of this was received from the Irish Health Research Board with the other major contributions coming from Science Foundation Ireland (14.4%), European Union (11.2%) and the Department of Health and Children (9.2%). This clearly illustrates the success of RCSI within the research environment.
In conjunction with the University of Malta, RCSI would envisage the following:
• Joint applications to be made with the University of Malta Medical School as a partner for EU, Irish and other grants.
• Access for Maltese researchers to Translational Research Programmes
• Access to MSc and PhD programmes
• The potential for visits from Maltese Researchers to Dublin and vice versa.
• Employment for Biomedical Scientists
4. Postgraduate Training
In association with the Specialty bodies in Malta RCSI and RCPI will assist in
structuring training programmes and providing relevant courses at various points in the training. If required this can include a shared curriculum. In addition to the above the relationship will facilitate:
• Clinical rotations between Ireland and Malta at basic and higher levels.
• On-line access to training tools to include (BeST and School for Surgeons). The latter is a Virtual Learning Environment similar in structure to Moodle at undergraduate level and provides a teaching and learning facility for trainees.
• Access to Simulation-based postgraduate training in Malta and in Ireland
• The following postgraduate courses will be held in Malta:
- Basic Surgical Skills
- Care of the Critically Ill patient
- Advanced Trauma and Life Support
In liaison with the University of Malta there is the potential to allow access to MSc and PhD programmes
RCSI will host and pay for leaders in the various clinical areas to visit the College and have the opportunity to see our teaching infrastructure, meet with research leaders and meet with the heads of the Irish training bodies.
It is important to emphasise that whatever structures are put in place will only happen after substantial levels of consultation between RCSI ,the Specialty bodies, leaders in the Medical Profession and the competent authorities . RCSI is not in a position to dictate what it might it see as a being the solution.
Outside of the standard postgraduate training programmes, RCSI will also be in a position to provide:
Management training Programmes for Clinicians and Mangers and includes programmes from Diploma to masters levels. (MSc in Leadership and Management, MSc in Quality in Healthcare, Diploma in Management, etc.)
MSc in Industrial Pharmacy
To achieve all of these targets will require RCSI and the Maltese Medical Community working in unison and this will be achieved by establishing appropriate working committees, joint steering committees and as referred to earlier, consultation at all levels.
I look forward to establishing a long and fruitful relationship between the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Medical Practitioners of Malta.
Yours sincerely,
Dear Information_on_demand:
The "information" you provide was circulated to medical practitioners in Malta. As the document was not signed and was not printed on letter headed paper, its contents can be considered dubious at best.
Information_on_demand : Thanks for sharing this document !
I wasn't aware of its existence as a separate document, but most of its contents have either appeared in the press or have leaked to this blog.
Now, I don't know if the document was circulated unsigned, as anna maria says.
What I do know, having just read it, is that it's simply too vague to be of any importance.
Anyone can type a long list of potential benefits. But how many of those can become reality and what will the cost be ?
Dear Anna Maria,
I can understand your concerns regarding the medical school. If I was a medical student I would do the same. It’s well known that there are limited resources (of all types). You should be asking questions and advocating for the best option. It’s good that some students are doing that!
However, your conspiracy theories [‘its contents can be considered dubious at best’], and completely doubting the RCSI proposal while supporting the SGUL’s proposal all the way (without actually seeing what it will bring) is not that healthy.
You should bring in all information, and let everyone compare and decide, something that I don’t see happening. It seems like that most medical students (or at least the ones with blogs) prefer one option over the other. If this was due to facts, than all well and good, but I still have to be convinced that facts are actually causing this bias.
Dear Information on demand
What makes you think that I am "supporting the SGUL proposal all the way". Maybe you are confusing me with Anna (above)!! I have no details of the SGUL proposal. As far as I know no-one else has. As far as the RCSI one, all we have is what you have posted, which is, with all due respect, meaningless, since you are anonymous. I am aware that a document which reads exactly as the one you quote has been circulated, but again, since it is unsigned, it means nothing.
However, let us for a minute assume that this document is real and analyse carefully what it says: The RCSI will graciously help the maltese medical community by offering a number of opportunities in respect of medical education, postgraduate training, research etc etc. If this were truly the case, then why did the RCSI not offer to partner with the University of Malta to achieve these lofty goals.
I personally have no bias for RCSI or SGUL because in all truth there are insufficient details around to decide one way or the other (on this I agree with Information_on_Demand). All I know is that the SGUL proposal involves a partnership of some sort with the University of Malta, which can only be good for us students, whereas the other proposal does not.
To paraphrase the foreigner: "To talk is cheap" Let's have some details....
Anna maria you are misinformed. The document that was circulated (above) WAS signed by Prof Cathal Kelley, dean of RCSI and placed on the table of the faculty board meeting held to discuss the RCSI on the 9th october and circulated recently with the minutes of that meeting as attachment A. There are different levels of partnership available, not necessarily one where we are joined at the hip. Personally i dont think that giving shares of the Maltese medical school to an overseas one is the answer. lets have less fiction and more negotiation.
Information_on_demand : I am happy that you can see the reasoning behind our concerns.
The "conspiracy theories" stem from the choice of the RCSI to keep its negotiations with the government secret and then inform the whole medical community (academics, practicing doctors and students) about the proposal via... the press.
The same "none of your business" policy is to be blamed for the bias that you mention. If one proposal consults the students from the beginning while the other one keeps ignoring them, it's easy to predict which proposal the students will support.
3rd year student : I'm impressed at the amount of knowledge you have on this topic. Are you sure you're a student ? Either way, thanks for sharing the information, and please feel free to share more !
Dear "3rd Year student"
I am a member of the faculty of medicine and surgery at the University of Malta, obviously writing under a pseudonym. I have seen with my own eyes the document that you refer to that was tabled at the faculty board meeting held to discuss the RCSI on the 9th october and circulated recently with the minutes of that meeting as attachment A. This document is not only unsigned, but it is not printed on RCSI letter headed paper.
Dear Dr. Walker,
Are you implying that the document is not authentic as it was unsigned and not printed on RCSI letter headed paper?
I'm sure that you as a 'member of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Malta' had all the opportunity and resources to authenticate it.
I'm confident that you as a 'member of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Malta' wouldn't allow these details to cause an obstruction in an obvious improvement for the Maltese Medical Profession, especially to its 'junior' section.
I understand that these details are important, but if these were the cause of the obstruction, then as a 'member of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Malta' I would have expected you to go in and act, not "drip and suck" the obstruction.
Let us protect the interest of the University of Malta Medical School and its students, but let us also leave personal pride at bay and do something about the much needed postgraduate training.
Senior doctors must realise that junior doctors are not there to nick they jobs.
Medical students should realise that in a few years time they will be junior doctors.
Senior doctors must realise that their current attitude towards training mean no specialists for Malta in the near future.
Medical students should realise the current junior-doctor-situation mean that you're always on the look-out for a training post abroad.
The mass exodus of Maltese junior doctors is not for better pay, but purely for training purposes – we're not laving for fun, we have families et al. here.
Dear Sir/Madam
As you say details are important and hence I repeat my assertion that the document that was tabled was unsigned. It is not my responsibility to ascertain its authenticity, even if I had wanted to devote resources to investigate its merit. It is entirely up to the RCSI and its representatives in Malta to ensure that what is submitted to the faculty board is a true copy of an original signed document.
The remainder of your comments about post graduate training are not relevant here, as I find it hard to understand how the RCSI proposal will significantly influence the future of postgraduate training in Malta.
Dear Dr. Walker,
RE: I find it hard to understand how the RCSI proposal will significantly influence the future of postgraduate training in Malta.
This might just do a bit more for our PGT:
4. Postgraduate Training
In association with the Specialty bodies in Malta RCSI and RCPI will assist in
structuring training programmes and providing relevant courses at various points in the training. If required this can include a shared curriculum. In addition to the above the relationship will facilitate:
• Clinical rotations between Ireland and Malta at basic and higher levels.
• On-line access to training tools to include (BeST and School for Surgeons). The latter is a Virtual Learning Environment similar in structure to Moodle at undergraduate level and provides a teaching and learning facility for trainees.
• Access to Simulation-based postgraduate training in Malta and in Ireland
• The following postgraduate courses will be held in Malta:
- Basic Surgical Skills
- Care of the Critically Ill patient
- Advanced Trauma and Life Support
In liaison with the University of Malta there is the potential to allow access to MSc and PhD programmes
RCSI will host and pay for leaders in the various clinical areas to visit the College and have the opportunity to see our teaching infrastructure, meet with research leaders and meet with the heads of the Irish training bodies.
It is important to emphasise that whatever structures are put in place will only happen after substantial levels of consultation between RCSI ,the Specialty bodies, leaders in the Medical Profession and the competent authorities . RCSI is not in a position to dictate what it might it see as a being the solution.
Outside of the standard postgraduate training programmes, RCSI will also be in a position to provide:
Management training Programmes for Clinicians and Mangers and includes programmes from Diploma to masters levels. (MSc in Leadership and Management, MSc in Quality in Healthcare, Diploma in Management, etc.)
MSc in Industrial Pharmacy
I find it completely pointless to go over the same discussion and re-post the same material over and over again.
In my opinion, the only attractive part of the RCSI deal would have been the possibility of offering a wide spectrum of postgraduate specialist training in Malta.
This is something that Malta really lacks at the moment, and it is responsible (to a significant extent, but not exclusively) for the 'brain drain'.
However, and from all the above, I can understand that RCSI is only promising to offer postgraduate medical training in three very specific fields in Malta.
So, if I understand correctly, people that don't want to specialise in surgery, emergency medicine and intensive care medicine will still have to go abroad.
So how is that supposed to solve the 'brain drain' problem ? By keeping 25 MD graduates per year on the island instead of the current 20 ?
Trust the run up to the exams is treating you reasonably.
Interesting letter in today's Times.
http://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080424/letters/whats-cooking
Looks like 2 new courses worth of students aren't enough for the gov't...
Dear Pawlu,
an interesting letter indeed, but also a letter written by a politician, something that its content clearly reflects.
I don't really have the time to go into an in-depth discussion of the letter. But I certainly agree with one of the points made : that MDH should not lose its public character.
It's the Maltese people who have paid for MDH, and the government (regardless of its colour) should ensure that the needs of the Maltese patients are met to the full before making it available to foreign patients.
Until then, I am sure that the latter will be more than welcome for treatment in the various Maltese private hospitals.
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