Malta

The Republic of Malta in the Mediterranean, is located between Italy and Tunisia, and has historical ties to both places, having been occupied by the Carthaginians and then the Romans. Ruled by the Byzantines from 395 until 870, it was then occupied by the Arabs and held by the Normans from 1090 until 1530 when it was ceded to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem—the Knights Hospitaller. Occupied briefly by the French from 1798 until 1800, it was taken by the British and was formally a British colony from 1814 until independence in 1974.

Traditionally many of the healthcare problems on Malta had to do with poor sanitation, with cases of cholera, and also the presence of mosquitoes which can lead to infections. Nowadays, heat exhaustion and heatstroke, conditions that continue to affect hundreds of tourists each year, cause many people to seek medical treatment.

From Norman times, there were numbers of Jewish doctors employed in Malta, especially at the Hospital of the Holy Ghost, the first hospital on the island, built at Rabat in about 1300. St. Peter's Hospital operated in Mdina, then the capital of the island until 1418 when Margaret of Aragon established another hospital on the island, with St. Julian's Hospital founded on the nearby island of Gozo, in 1454. After the arrival of the Knights of St. John, healthcare on the island dramatically improved, and following the Knights defeating the Turks in 1565, the Holy Infirmary was built in Valletta which emerged as the new capital. Subsequently women's hospitals were built, and also the Civil Hospital for Men at Valetta.

There have long been records of people suffering from “fevers” on Malta, and in 1530 malaria first appeared, with a terrible malaria epidemic hitting Rabat and Mdina in 1707–1709. There had also been a number of plague epidemics, in 1592–1593, in 1623, in 1655, in 1675–1677, in 1813–1814, and the most recent one in 1917. There were also minor epidemics in 1936–1937 and 1945–1946. Cholera epidemics have also hit the island in 1767, 1770, 1783, 1837, 1850, 1854, 1856, 1865, 1867, 1887 and 1911. Tuberculosis remained a major problem until the twentieth century, with venereal diseases also being relatively common. Leprosy was a minor problem on Malta and Gozo, as was trachoma and poliomyelitis.

Today, Malta maintains one of the better healthcare systems in the region, with St. Luke's Hospital near Pietà, south-west of Valletta, dealing with most major casualties on the island of Malta, and Craig Hospital in Gozo covering that island.

There is also a wide network of general practitioners, with Malta having 261 doctors and 1100 nurses per 100,000 people. There is a national health service which guarantees free treatment to all citizens. Traditionally doctors from Malta have been trained in France, Britain or Italy, but increasing numbers are [Page 1062]studying in Malta where a new teaching hospital has been built at the University of Malta at Msida.