Documentary sources for the history of the Maltese general practitioner

Abstract

The history of the Maltese General Practitioner (GP) remains to be written. Such history will enhance the identity of the family doctor and prove indispensable to characterise the Maltese context of practice. To list some of the resources available for the study of the history of the Maltese GP and use it to provide an overview of relevant material for the pre-seventeenth- century period. Over the past ten years, note was made of the material and literature encountered that could be of relevance to Maltese medical history in general and that of the Maltese GP in particular. Further information was obtained by consulting the references and other information provided by these works. These sources were categorized. As a case study, information on community medical services preceding 1600 AD was collected to come up with an account that goes beyond a strictly chronological overview, giving particular attention to other details such as training, remuneration, political involvement as well as gender and social issues. Evidence has been presented for fifteenth century community health services in Gozo and Mdina. In the following century, such service spread to a number of villages in Malta, financed by institutions or private individuals.