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5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 15 MAY 2019 NEWS OFFICIALS from the Cus- toms Department's intellec- tual property division have seized thousands of coun- terfeit items discovered in four containers at the Malta Freeport. In a statement, the depart- ment said that the items were discovered during standard surveillance checks. The department said 10,344 counterfeit dressed by well-known brands, while 11,280 dresses were found in a second container. The remaining two con- tainers contained a com- bined 19,356 counterfeit footballs. All the objects seized were confirmed to be counterfeit by representatives of the companies hold the rights to the respective brands, which own the respective intellec- tual property. The companies are expect- ed to file an application in court over the case. Four containers- worth of counterfeit items seized by Customs DAVID HUDSON MEDICAL students at the Uni- versity of Malta have said that the addition of students from Barts medical school to their clinical practice risks jeoporidis- ing their studies. The students were expected to have their practice rounds at the Gozo General Hospital, how- ever a delay in the completion of the hospital has resulted in all clinical rotations being carried out at Mater Dei Hospital. The ministry confirmed to the Times of Malta that an average of 15 to 20 students from Barts will be added to the Mater Dei rounds, with a maximum of six students assigned to each spe- cialty. In a petition being circulated among students, the govern- ment is being asked to commit to not adding any more students to the course until the Gozo hospital has been completed. The Malta Medical Students' Association (MMSA) has said that with wards already crowd- ed, and given the limited num- ber of consultants available to students, a further influx of trainees from Barts could put their studies at risk. The associations president Omar Chircop was quoted say- ing that students were already finding it difficult to view cer- tain procedures and that fur- ther increasing the number of students to be catered for would see students not get the neces- sary exposure. The association said that while authorities seemed "willing" to make sure that there were no clashes with local students, sim- ilar assurances had been given in the pass only for them to be ignored. The training being offered by the local university needed to be safeguarded and resources in- creased, the MMSA said. Godfrey Laferla, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Sur- grey at the University of Malta said he was aware that Barts had a strict contractual agreement with the government to provide tutors for their students and that Mater Dei would have to cater for these students. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Laferla pointed out that Barts operated "a very right and strict tutor-to- student ratio" and that this cre- ated an "unfavourable" situation for local medical students since "first preference is being given to the parties of the contractual agreement". Back in 2014, the MMSA had voiced similar concerns that the addition of a new medical school would "directly affect their daily learning experience, which may already be compromised by the increasing number of students" entering the medical course. Barts students too much for Mater Dei to handle, medical students say

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