Health Minister celebrates as new medical school remains in limbo

Senior health officials are perplexed by Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela’s initiative to host a mega-party celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Medical School in Malta, even as a project to build a new medical school next to Mater Dei, announced in 2019, remains at a complete standstill.

Hundreds of invitations have been issued, including to friends and potential voters of the minister, to attend the bash at the Mediterranean Conference Centre on Friday, 10 April, with entertainment provided by the musical band The Travellers. The Gozitan band hails from the minister’s own constituency.

Health Ministry insiders told The Shift that no expenses have been spared on the party, describing it as “an excuse to launch the minister’s personal re-election campaign for the upcoming elections using public funds”.

Questions sent to the minister to give details of the budget for this party, procurement, its scope, and an update on the new promised medical school project remained unanswered.

The celebration comes as questions persist over the status of a long-promised new medical school, first announced in 2019 as a major investment in Malta’s healthcare infrastructure.

The project was intended to provide modern teaching facilities near Mater Dei Hospital and support the expansion of medical training.

Seven years after its announcement, the project remains incomplete, and the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery continues to operate from various sites across the Tal-Qroqq campus and Mater Dei Hospital.

Originally, Abela’s predecessor, Chris Fearne, had announced 2022 as the opening date of the new Medical School. Since then, Fearne has been replaced by Abela, and there has been no update on the project.

In recent months, Minister Abela suggested that the building, originally identified as part of the Campus Hub next to Mater Dei and dedicated for the new Medical School, could be repurposed to host the relocation of the dilapidated Karin Grech Hospital rather than used as originally planned. Even on this, the health minister has failed to deliver, with a tender issued last year still pending adjudication.

Through other confusing statements, Jo Etienne Abela has indicated that the government is considering alternative approaches to medical education infrastructure, including the possibility of relocating teaching facilities as part of a broader healthcare development to a so-called Health Village at St Luke’s. However, no detailed plans, budgets, or timelines have been published and the project remains on paper.

Medical student organisations, who have been awaiting their new campus for years, have raised concerns about the lack of clarity surrounding the medical school project and its implications for training capacity.

Speaking to The Shift, they described the juxtaposition of the anniversary event with the unresolved status of the medical school as a clear sign that not all is well inside the health ministry.

“The minister’s party is another confirmation that the right hand does not know what the left is doing. Not a good omen for Malta’s health service,” they complained.

To date, the health ministry has not issued a comprehensive update outlining the future of the medical school project or confirming whether a revised plan will replace the original proposal.