Homeowners Association excited about new development

St Vincent and the Grenadines beat out the Bahamas to land the Trinity University School Of Medicine (TUSOM).

In an exclusive interview with the SEARCHLIGHT earlier this week, Vice President of the Miami based TUSOM, Dr Bill Clutter said that his school jumped at the opportunity that presented itself with the pull out of the St George’s University (Kingstown Medical College).{{more}}

“We were looking at the Bahamas, but when we heard about what was going on, we saw it as a ‘turn key’ operation, with all the existing facilities,” Dr Clutter said.

Dr Clutter said that TUSOM sent a proposal to the government last Fall, and was elated to have received word about 10 days ago that they had received the initial nod of approval.

Dr Clutter said that he expects classes to start in September with about 50 students, with the student body climbing to a consistent 1,000 to 1,500 in about three years time.

He explained that unlike the Kingstown Medical College, Trinity University School of Medicine will be operating their first five semesters in St Vincent, and will have four to five classes of students at any given time.

This is good news for the 60 or so homeowners who lost a combined $400,000 per year in rental to medical students.

“All of these (homeowners), it will be our first priority to place students there once our class fills up – we hope to have enough students to fill all of those apartments that they have built and more,” Dr Clutter said.

He told SEARCHLIGHT that he expects that some 600 more apartments will have to be sourced in three years time to meet the demand.

He also noted that the TUSOM plans to build a long term partnership with St Vincent and the Grenadines, and is looking forward to putting pen to paper on a 30-year agreement.

Dr Clutter also had good news for the local doctors who also were under the knife with the KMC drama: five or six of them will be employed with the medical school from the get go.

He also noted that the school’s Dean, Dr Edward Johnson, a former employee of KMC, has already begun looking into staffing, including some of the 80 or so employees that were severed by KMC.

Meanwhile, Cecil Ryan, a homeowner and spokesman for the Homeowners’ association, told SEARCHLIGHT that he is happy to know that things have begun to look up.

Ryan said that the homeowners’ association has not met in a while, but may need to meet now, as they look forward to the coming of TUSOM.

Car rental operators and some supermarkets that made an estimated combined $400,000 per year and $10,000 per week from the medical students, respectively, may all be holding their collective breaths in childlike excitement, as the pot of gold is seen at the end of the rainbow. (KJ)