Medicine in Malta in 1800-1810

Abstract

The British Medical Association (Malta Branch) prize in the medical essay competition for 1969 was awarded to Dr. Paul Cassar for this paper. When the French finally capitulated in September 1800 and Great Britain took over the civil and military administration of Malta, the Island was in a very poor shape. Eventually, Malta's connexion with the British Crown led to the growth of the Island into one of the most formidable naval bases of the Mediterranean. This development not only determined the political orientation in world affairs and the economic pattern of the Island but also brought Maltese medicine, for the first time in our history, in close touch with British medical thought and practice. At this period this influence was exerted mainly by the medical personnel of the navy. The medical highlights of the decade 1800-10 are Burnett's clinical description of Undulant Fever; the introduction of vaccination against smallpox; the revival of the University with its Medical Faculty; the initiation of the Government's policy of sending Maltese medical men for postgraduate studies to the United Kingdom and the beginning of the first contacts between British and Maltese medicine.