Local NGO Beating Hearts Malta recently presented a €25,000 donation to the Research Trust (RIDT) of the University of Malta, which will finance a PhD scholarship in cardiovascular disease. The study will focus on congenital and inherited cardiac disorders.

The donation was presented to university rector and RIDT chairperson Prof. Alfred J. Vella in the presence of members of the Beating Hearts Malta (BHM) and RIDT committees, and the University Doctoral School.

“Cardiovascular disease remains the biggest killer in European countries,” said Dr Maryanne Caruana, a Mater Dei Hospital consultant cardiologist who is also a senior university lecturer and a BHM trustee. She said that research was the “behind the scenes” of doctors’ practice, giving them the necessary evidence to back up the treatment and advice they provide their patients with during their day-to-day work.

“However, effective research costs time and money. Thanks to the support of many, BHM is now able to invest in high-quality local cardiovascular research with the aim to improve the quality of care delivered to cardiac patients in Malta and beyond,” she added.

BHM was founded in December 2011. Its main objective at the outset was to provide support and encouragement for all adults and children with congenital heart disease (CHD) as well as their partners and families, and to promote awareness and educate social care professionals, employers, insurers and the general public about the existence and the needs of people with CHD.

Over the years, the NGO has bought specialised medical equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with congenital and acquired heart disease receiving care at Mater Dei Hospital. As of 2019, BHM started supporting the continued professional development of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals working in cardiology and cardiac surgery through yearly bursaries.

RIDT CEO Wilfred Kenely thanked the NGO for their generous support towards this scholarship. “In today’s world, when almost everything has been disrupted due to the current health crisis, such a donation gives us so much hope that science and research will eventually give us the solutions we need,” he said.

The RIDT was set up in 2011 to help the University of Malta expand its research portfolio in all areas of study, and to date it has helped raise more than €3.5 million from various sectors of the Maltese community, including corporates, NGOs, foundations and individual donors.