Sunday, August 10, 2008

Healthcare


Malta has a long history of healthcare, and the first hospital recorded in the country was already functioning by 1372.
Modern-day Malta has both a public healthcare system, known as the government healthcare service, and a private healthcare system.
Malta was ranked number 5 in the World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems, well above the USA (at 37), Australia (at 32), and Canada (at 30). The United Kingdom, the best of this group of larger comparator countries, was ranked at number 18, which is interesting in that the healthcare system in Malta closely resembles the British system, as healthcare is free at the point of delivery. Also, like the UK Malta has a strong general practitioner-delivered primary care base, supplemented by secondary care and tertiary care provided by a number of public hospitals, some of which (such as St. Luke's Hospital) are large (see List of hospitals in Malta).
There is both a medical school and a dental school at the University of Malta, as well as a nursing school .
Malta has three major private hospitals. These are St Philip's Hospital, with a capacity of 75 beds, in Santa Venera, and St James Capua Hospital in Sliema, with 80 beds (the former Capua Palace Hospital) - St James Hospital also has other sites, including a 13 bed unit in Zabbar, as well as a partner hospital in Libya. There is also St Mark's Clinic, with a capacity of 5 beds, based in Msida and which offers private hospital services.
In recent years, Malta has been trying to develop as a medical tourism destination . However, up to 2008 no Maltese hospitals in either the public or the private sectors had undergone independent international healthcare accreditation. Malta is popular with British medical tourists , and logically this may point Maltese hospitals towards seeking UK-sourced accreditation, such as with the Trent Accreditation Scheme, or possibly to seek dual accreditation with the American-orientated Joint Commission if they wish to compete with the Far East and Latin America for medical tourists from the USA, as well as from the UK. A number of health tourism providers are involved in developing medical tourism in Malta.
The Maltese Ministry of Health advises foreign residents to take out private medical insurance.
The Medical Association of Malta represents practitioners of the medical profession. MMSA is a separate body representing Maltese medical students, and is a member of EMSA and IFMSA. MIME, the Maltese Institute for Medical Education, is an institute set up recently to provide CME to doctors in Malta as well as medical students. MADS, the Malta Association of Dental Students, 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.

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