Heroes of the Pandemic

Nurses Doreen Zammit and Charmaine Cauchi of Mater Dei Hospital, based on a photograph published in the Times of Malta. Above: the inscription "HEROES OF THE PANDEMIC"; below: the issuing state "MALTA" and the year "2021".

Malta is one of the smallest member states of the European Union, yet with Mater Dei Hospital it has one of the most modern hospitals in the Mediterranean. This central hospital, which began operations in 2007, became the island nation's most important treatment facility during the COVID-19 pandemic. Maltese nursing staff faced particular challenges: the small size of the country meant limited staff reserves, and its island location made international supply chains for protective equipment and medicines harder to secure than in larger EU countries. Nonetheless, Malta at times had one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe — an outcome that would not have been possible without the efforts of its healthcare workers.

The nursing profession in Malta has a long history, closely tied to religious orders; traditionally, the Knights of St John, who resided on the island for centuries, left a lasting mark on Maltese healthcare. Today, around 3,000 nurses work in the public sector, carrying the burden of basic medical care for the country's nearly 500,000 inhabitants. Two named nurses from Mater Dei Hospital, Doreen Zammit and Charmaine Cauchi, became the faces of this collective effort through a Times of Malta photograph in 2021 — an image that in Malta came to symbolise the pandemic-era dedication of the nursing profession. In recognition of this achievement and in memory of all healthcare workers, Malta issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2021.