€7.6 million in health sector human resources and research projects announced

Projects will cover health worker communication-skills training, scholarships in specialised sectors, and research on social detriments to health

Health minister Chris Fearne and EU funds parliamentary secretary Aaron Farrugia today announced three health-sector projects valued at €7.6 million
Health minister Chris Fearne and EU funds parliamentary secretary Aaron Farrugia today announced three health-sector projects valued at €7.6 million

Three health-related human resources and research projects, totalling an investment of €7.6 million, covering social relations up-skilling for health workers, scholarships for degrees in areas not offered in Malta and research on social problems, were announced by the government today.

Parliamentary secretary for EU funds Aaron Farrugia, addressing a press conference with health minister Chris Fearne, explained that the first project, for which €3.3 million are set-out, aimed to give communication-skills training to around 6,000 health sector workers who have contact with patients.

This project would not involve clinical training, but has the goal of giving health workers the soft skills needed to improve patients’ experience and deliver health care in a more humane manner, Fearne added.

The second project, valued at €2.1 million, will be used to give training, which is currently not on offer in Malta, to ten Maltese students in specialised sectors, namely optometry, orthotics and prosthetics, and genetic counselling.

This will take the form of bachelor’s and master’s degrees scholarships, through which the students can be trained abroad and then return to Malta to apply their skills, Fearne explained.

Fearne said that the third project, to which €2.2 million will be dedicated, had to do with research on social detriments to health, and would involve the health ministry working with other ministries to study how the social environment is affecting Maltese people’s lives.

Around 700 individuals working in the health sector will be receiving training in this regard, with the aim being to reduce health problems related to the social dimension, Farrugia elaborated.

Fearne said that the funds, which are partly coming from the European Union’s 2014-2020 funding programme, had started being used since last month, and that the project would take around two and a half years to fully implement.