New students enroll at medical school

After a hiatus of nine months, St Vincent and the Grenadines is once again home to a medical school.

Twenty-five eager medical students were presented at a White Coat ceremony on Monday, September 8, at the Peace Memorial Hall in Kingstown, signaling the official commencement of the Trinity University School of Medicine (TUSOM).{{more}}

As he delivered the keynote address, Governor General, Sir Frederick Ballantyne, himself a medical doctor, reminded the students of their responsibility towards their patients, regardless of their race, colour and financial status.

He assured them that the health resources made available to them for their education is top class and they will benefit from the expert faculty, which is knowledgeable about the latest advancements in medicine.

Sir Frederick, who serves on the Board of Advisors of TUSOM, told the attentive group that he expects them to display conduct befitting physicians, suggesting that the main difference, besides knowledge, between them as students and medical doctors is having graduated.

As he welcomed the students to this country, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves boasted that the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital is an excellent teaching hospital, comparable with schools throughout the world.

TUSOM’s opening is a crucial step taken in the mission to rekindle the $22 million industry that was swiped away with the December 2007 closure of the Kingstown Medical College, a subsidiary of the Grenada based and New York headquartered St George’s University which had operated here for 29 years.

When the school pulled out, rumours were rife as to the reason. St George’s University suggested that rising incidents of crime against students was the reason. On the other hand, Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace claimed that as an American school, with American students, the school was offended by this country’s “too strident” relationship with Venezuela and its leftist leader, Hugo Chavez, who is reputed as being anti-America.

During a visit to this country early last year, Chavez made some harsh remarks against the United States and Eustace said that he had received letters from medical students indicating that they were offended that Chavez had been allowed to make such statements on Vincentian soil.

All along, Government insisted that St George’s was only playing business hardball.

When the 25-year agreement between the government and St George’s University, which had been signed in 1978 came up for review in 2003, government made it clear that a new agreement would not include the exclusivity clause which was enshrined in the previous agreement.

“We saw it as limiting our ability to negotiate with any other entity that may wish to establish such operations,” Minister of Health Dr Douglas Slater said in parliament recently, noting that this is why St. George’s downsized and eventually pulled out of St Vincent.

In fact, another subsidiary of St George’s University has since applied for a new charter to operate here, which throws the violence and foreign policy concerns out of the window.

Senior Executive Vice president of TUSOM, Dr Bill Clutter, told SEARCHLIGHT that he was pleased with the way things have progressed and is confident that all targets will be met.

In an earlier interview, Dr Clutter projected that the student body will climb to about 1,000 in about three years time – good news for homeowners who were left out in the cold by the St George’s pull out.

About 60 or so homeowners lost a combined $400,000 per year in apartment 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 had said.

And based on what has taken place thus far, his word seems good; car rental businesses, supermarkets, and the aforementioned apartment owners are all literally banking on it.