Students Hold Mock-Funeral For Free Medical Education In Malta
Maltese students have gathered in protest against the new private medical school set to open in Gozo.
Barts Medical School, which was set to open in 2017 but has since been delayed by another year, will be a privately run school offering medical degrees in a joint venture with Gozo General Hospital.
The protesters mourned the “death of free medical education in Malta”, handing out santi that read “For patients, not profit. 1771-2017”.
“Our main argument is that the motive of our medical school is to produce good doctors to care for Maltese patients. Charging so much for a medical degree introduces a new motive for educators: that of profit,” said medical student Tom Calleja
The protesters walked around the hospital carrying a fake coffin with the same message as the santi.
“Our resources at hospital have been set up at the expense of the Maltese taxpayer. Barts are not building any new facilities, bringing in doctors of their own, or expanding infrastructure. They are hijacking what we have cultivated over decades. How will the Maltese working class, who paid for our NHS, benefit from a medical school that charges such exorbitant amounts?”
The back of the santi handed out at the mock funeral.
