PM hopeful that Medical College will continue

As stakeholders brace themselves for the year-end closure of the $22 million annual industry that is the Kingstown Medical College, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has offered a glimmer of hope.{{more}}

Speaking at a Brooklyn Town Hall Meeting last Monday, September 24, in New York, Dr Gonsalves remained hopeful that the St George’s University may bring a new four year programme to these shores.

“We have had discussions with the people in the medical college, and they want to start a four year college from January,” he told his audience.

He, however, admitted that a January start doesn’t look feasible, and said that there were still issues being discussed.

Among the issues is the medical college’s insistence on the exclusive use of the Milton Cato Memorial. Hospital as a teaching hospital.

Dr Gonsalves said that while he did not mind granting such exclusively, it (exclusively) could not be extended to the other medical facilities, including the new Diagnostic Centre being constructed at Georgetown.

He also said that crucial to any discussion is the number of students that will be brought to these shores, and the quantity that will be renting apartments from homeowners.

He said he could not agree to a deal that would see the country simply being used because it has good facilities for teaching.

“We make money when students rent places,” Dr Gonsalves said, as he insisted that there must be a limit to the number of dorms that will be made available by the school to the students.

It is estimated that approximately 60 homeowners make a combined $400,000 per year from rental to medical school students.

As regards the Georgetown hospital, Dr Gonsalves said that his government is trying to encourage another medical school to set up shop on the Windward end of the island.

If the search is successful, judging from the financial impact of the Kingstown Medical College, Georgetown and the surroundings areas could find a return of the days when the “sugar city” buzzed with life.

As it is now, the Kingstown Medical College closes on December 15, and close to 80 employees are waiting for their severance pay, contemplating what is next. About 75 home owners, some with mortgagees over $1 million, watch in horror. Car rental operators stand to lose a combined $400,000 per year, and some supermarkets, over $10,000 per week in sales.(KJ)