Description
Contemporary Medicine in Malta (1798-1979) is the final volume in the series on the history of medical practice in the Maltese islands. The book deals with the medical practice during the Contemporary period encompassing the last two hundred years, a period that saw the final phase of the emergence of the scientific basis of disease understanding and management. The Contemporary Period in the Maltese Islands saw its start with political upheaval that saw the ousting of the Hospitaller Order of St. john by the French, and the eventual ousting of the new rulers. The French capitulation was to herald a political and cultural link between the Islands and the British Empire that was to last until the attainment of Independence within the Commonwealth in 1964, and the declaration of a Republic ten years later, and the departure of British Forces in 1979. The book reviews the changing patterns of disease management throughout the nineteenth to twentieth centuries and links these to the scientific advances that were being made on the continent. The book looks at the efforts to re-establish and update the public health legislation, social welfare services, and medical education that had been introduced by the Order of St. John in earlier centuries. In addition the publication looks at the history of various medical conditions and their management in the light of the new scientific advances that were being made. The book should be of value not only to historians and scholars of the period but also to medical practitioners, who by looking at the origins of his current knowledge an put current accepted scientific dogma in perspective and enable him to acknowledge the work of his predecessors.
