Malta’s ties with Scottish college

I was happy to read the article ‘Tracing Malta’s ties to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’ (December 16), by surgeon Jo Etienne Abela, on the agreement reached by local surgical educators with the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCS Ed), which has committed to offer its extensive portfolio of trainee courses to local surgical trainees. This is most welcome and will continue to promote our long-standing cooperation with the RCS Ed.

I would like to add further information on this aspect, based on my personal standing as probably the oldest local fellow of the college (I was admitted in 1968) as well as my personal involvement in various negotiations with the college in my capacity of head of surgery in the Medical School, University of Malta, in the 1990s.

In 1998, I had contacted the president of the college, A. Maran, suggesting collaboration in surgical training and the holding of the exit exam of the college in Malta. This proposal was well-received and a high-powered delegation came to Malta, which included the president, David Lee, convener of the FRCS exam, and our compatriot and pioneer of minimally invasive (“keyhole”) surgery, Alfred Cuschieri.

Several important issues were discussed and agreed on, particularly the holding of part of the college FRCS exit exam in Malta, which commenced in February 2002.

Further incentives were offered and a number of our then surgical trainees (some are consultants at Mater Dei Hospital at present) achieving high grades in basic surgical training.

Moreover, Malta’s ties with the RCS Ed extended beyond the educational field. In May 1991, the then president of the college, Geoffrey Chisholm, informed me that the college had decided to award the

President of Malta, Vincent Tabone, himself a senior college fellow, with a gold medal to honour him for his “continued political excellence with surgical excellence”.

The cutting taken from Times of Malta of June 11, 1991.

Tabone was a well-known ophthalmic surgeon and the only fellow of the college to have become head of state of a country. The ceremony took place at the Palace on June 10, 1991 and was reported in the Times of Malta next day with a picture (right).

Ten years later, in 2001, another president of the college, Maran, visited Malta to give a talk at the Maltese medical conference.

Maran was an opera buff. He could not believe his eyes when, taken to Gozo for a visit, he saw the opera Aida advertised as separate performances, within two weeks of each other, in two theatres, only some 500 metres away from each other.

I had to explain that these performances were not amateurish but of a very high professional quality.

Just before the onset of the pandemic, I was invited to St Andrew’s, Scotland, where I met him and Cuschieri, now both retired, who were all praise for our long-standing collaboration.

On another matter, it was stated in the article that “Malta has a proud surgical history”.

In fact, there is a wealth of historical material on the island dating back to the times of the Knights.

I have, for some time, been lobbying for a Museum of Medical History but it continues to remain a dream.

Carmel Lino Cutajar – Madliena

Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@timesofmalta.com. Please include your full name, address and ID card number. The editor may disclose personal information to any person or entity seeking legal action on the basis of a published letter.