German Maltese Medical Society

T he German – Maltese Medical Society’s main aim is to promote closer ties between Germany and Malta in the medical field. In 2013, in collaboration with the Rotes Kreuz Krankenhaus (Red Cross Hospital)* in Kassel (Hesse) the GMMS managed to send nine Maltese medical students for Summer elective periods to this hospital. It was a great success and we had a very positive feedback, both from the medical students and from the consultants and the Red Cross Hospital administration in Kassel. The students were part of the hospital’s medical and surgical teams and were given hands-on experience in the wards, operating theatres and the A&E department. They were also given afternoon lessons in German and the accommodation, as reported by the students, was excellent. They were even given a small personal stipend by the Red Cross Hospital. A big thank you goes to all who were involved.

This year we are repeating this set-up. However the medical students will first undergo a crash course in German, between February and April at the German-Maltese Circle headquarters (Messina Palace, Valletta) here in Malta. We thank Mr Victor Sammut from the German-Maltese Circle organizing this language course, as well as the Maltese Government and Dr Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Education, who agreed to cover all the expenses of the language course, text-books and the examination fees. This surely is an excellent way forward.

The German – Maltese Medical Society does not stop here. Discussions have been opened with the Postgraduate Medical Training Centre to explore:

1. the possibility for some of our newly – qualified doctors to undergo the Foundation Studies at the Rotes-KreuzKrankenhaus in Kassel.

2. the possibility for our postgraduate trainees to undergo a year or two of their postgraduate studies in Germany under the auspices of the University of Göttingen** (Hesse).

3. conjoint medical research and further training and exchange of our specialists in particular medical fields.

The discussions are currently at a level of a memorandum of understanding and we thank Dr Ray Galea, Lead coordinator of the Postgraduate Medical Training Centre, as well as Mr Michael Gribner and Mr Christian Collard from the Red Cross Hospital for their tremendous effort and valuable work.

Finally, I would like to mention that Dr Thomas Stöcker from Bremen, Germany, who is the Honorary Consul General of Malta, will be delivering a talk on “Rapid Hypnosis Induction Techniques in Dentistry” on Friday 11th April 2014 at 19.00 hrs at the German -Maltese Circle, Messina Palace -141, St Christopher Street, Valletta VLT 1465, Malta. All those interested are welcome to attend

 

Dr Anthony Zammit M.D. – Facharzt für Chirurgie President of the German-Maltese Medical Society www.germanmaltesecircle.org/gmms.htm