John Hopkins Medicine, one of the top medical institutions in the United States, is exploring the possibility of opening a Medical School in Malta to offer medical courses to local and foreign students. John Hopkins Medicine is considering buying St Philips Hospital which can house up to 120 beds but as that will not be enough to provide the wide range of patients needed for a proper medical education, an arrangement would have to be reached with Mater Dei Hospital and the Medical School of the University of Malta to provide access to at least another 100 patients.

The University of Malta resisted a similar attempt by the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland (RCSI) to open an international medical school in Malta. RCSI also needed access to Mater Dei Hospital for its medical students. The University of Malta had proposed the opening of another medical school together with St Georges University of London but this proposal got nowhere. While RCSI were ready to invest in Malta, St Georges did not have the money to do so.

Last May the Ministry of Health commissioned John Hopkins Medicine International (JHI) to carry out a systems revue and needs assessment at Mater Dei Hospital with the aim of enhancing hospital efficiency to continue to improve access and the quality of service delivered to Maltese patients.

The Maltese government had said that this is in line with its stated objective that Malta should become a healthcare centre-of-excellence for the Mediterranean region within the wider context of Vision 2015.

Government had been also considering contracting John Hopkins Medicine International to manage Mater Dei Hospital but has given up the idea as the management fee was going to cost 10 million a year.

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John Hopkins consider opening a Medical School in Malta