New offshore medical university set to begin training (Guyana)

[azskeptic]

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl...ws?id=30188571

New offshore medical university set to begin training
Saturday, September 17th 2005
The Greenheart Medical University (GMU) is set to start classes this month in Guyana offering medical doctor (MD) and nursing degree programmes.

The university is accredited by the Government of Guyana and will offer its programmes based on a North American curriculum. It will operate at the University of Guyana's (UG) Turkeyen and Tain campuses for now, and will use both local and overseas teachers. The GMU's website http://www.greenheartmed.com/ has no information on operations in any other area but Guyana.

For starters, GMU will offer a Bachelor of Science Degree programme in nursing. The medical doctor programme will start with a pre-medicine course, then students will move on to the medicine course, and then to clinicals, which they will be able to do either here in Guyana or overseas, President and CEO of the university, George *****, told reporters at a press conference at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel yesterday.

The nursing and pre-med programmes have planned durations of six semesters (approximately two years). Basic science is scheduled for 15 months with clinicals afterwards. Students leaving high school with excellent grades can apply to start the MD programme, ***** said.

Registered nurses can apply for the degree in nursing, which for them would last four semesters. They can do their degree on a part-time basis.

Persons with primary and secondary school education amounting to 12 years can also apply for the nursing degree programme but for them it would last eight semesters, full time.

The university is also structuring an open entrance examination for persons with the required primary and secondary education wishing to enter the medical doctor programme.

According to Dennis Ramnarace, Vice President of Finance of the university, the cost of the programmes is structured on three tiers: for North America, the Caribbean, and with special provision for local students in the form of scholarships and loans.

The pre-med programme will cost Guyanese US$20,000. But GMU will foot US$6,000 in the form of a scholarship. It also has a loan provision of US$6,000.

For the basic science programme GMU will offer a US$22,500 scholarship.

The total cost for the registered nurse to B.Sc in nursing, was given as US$13,500. GMU will offer a US$7,600 scholarship and has a loan provision of US$4,000.

Students starting the nursing degree from scratch will pay a total of US$27,000. Here GMU offers a US$15,200 scholarship and a loan provision of US$8,000.

To write the United States Medical Licensing Examin-ation (USMLE) it would cost students US$3,900. GMU offers a US$1,000 scholarship and a loan provision of US$2,000.

For mature students who require an upgrade in high school science subjects, GMU has a one-semester course costing US$1,500 but offers a US$1,000 scholarship and there is a loan provision for US$500.

Until it constructs a planned US$15M campus in Berbice, GMU will hold classes at the UG campuses for a fee, and use its professors on a part-time basis under a cooperative agreement signed on August 15, Raminder ****, Vice-President Public Relations of GMU said. UG has its own medical school.

On its website GMU invites students to: "Jump right into real life situations in the New Amsterdam Hospital, local rural hospitals, and health clinics. Be a volunteer and angel and help eradicate malaria throughout Guyana." GMU has its mailing address as 16 Main & New Street, New Amsterdam, Berbice.

At present there are 20 students enrolled at GMU for the basic sciences programme and another 40 for the pre-med and nursing. Of these, ***** said, foreign students make up one third.

A demand of government and the Ministry of Health was that local personnel, UG and other public institutions must be integrated into the curriculum of GMU, Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy said at the press conference. "It was one of our first demands."

Another commitment sought by the ministry and given by GMU was to upgrade the physical structure, books and Information Technology equipment at the Georgetown Hospital Library.

GMU has also accepted to help in the malaria core programme of the ministry starting in September 2006 which will see extensive screening of persons in Regions One, Seven, Eight, and Nine to identify and treat carriers.

The relationship between GMU and Guyana is one which aims to revolutionise the concept of off-shore schools, Ramsammy said. "GMU should not be known as an off-shore school but an international health institution," Ramsammy said.

There have been problems with the conventional offshore schools before in Guyana, Ramsammy said, adding that they taught but when the time came for training which was only being done overseas, many students could not get their visas.

At the campus which is expected to be fully completed in two and a half years but where classes could begin from September next year satellite technology is to be utilised.

This would allow students, in the presence of a professor, to view overseas tutorials and even live surgeries, ***** said.

[Scott1981]

where are the clinicals and it would be interesting to see if CA would require an approval like caribbean schools do?

[xychromosome88]

sir plz tell me wat is the success of doin clinical rotation in north america if i do my basic study from greenheart medical university guyana.