TO:

International Medical Education Directory (IMED)
c/o FAIMER
3624 Market St., 4th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104
USA
Fax: 215.386.9767
Email: imed@faimer.org
cc credentials@ecfmg.org

Dear Sirs:

In your website located at:

http://imed.ecfmg.org/

you state:

"The International Medical Education Directory (IMED) provides an accurate and up-to-date resource of information about international medical schools that are recognized by the appropriate government agency in the countries where the medical schools are located. The agency responsible for this recognition in most countries is the Ministry of Health. Medical schools that are recognized by the appropriate agencies in their respective countries are listed in the International Medical Education Directory. "

I am curious as to IMED's position on medical schools that are not located where their recognition and govt. certification is provided from. An example are the following schools:

St. Christophers--showing on your list as being in Senagal but actually holding classes in Luton England

Kigezi-showing on your list as being in Uganda but actually holding classes in England

Neither school shows up in England's listings as medical schools and neither are recognized by the appropriate government agency in the countries where the medical schools are located. What is FAIMER's position on these schools as to graduates of the England schools meeting your requirements.

Best regards,

You forgot MUA Belize

__________________
BTS4202
St. Christopher's COM
4th Year
http://www.mdparadise.com

"If there really is a God, He has a lot of explaining to do"
- Dennis Leary

My letter the same people:

__________________
BTS4202
St. Christopher's COM
4th Year
http://www.mdparadise.com

"If there really is a God, He has a lot of explaining to do"
- Dennis Leary

Do you actually HAVE a campus in Senegal. That may at some point be an issue. MUA has a campus in the country of charter, if I am not mistaken. Not trying to be argumentative, but I want you to understand that there are very intricate rules regarding licensure, and people on the boards can be very picky if they want. G

__________________
AUC Class of '99
Bored certified
I may be a jerk, but I'm a Jedi jerk like my father.

Some say I look like Buzz Lightyear....
(They're right)

DISCLAIMER: I have no financial stake in ValueMD, or any medical school.

Maybe instead of sitting behind a computer bad mouthing all the schools that are trying to help students become practicing physicians you should go back to selling egg products or better yet get some excercise....The weather in Fountain Hills is great, been there many times and spent some time golfing at firerock across the street.

These schools, no matter where you go, will only be 1 small step in the overall MD training, so the only difference between foreign medical grads and US grads is 18-24 months of classroom time, otherwise clinical and residency are the same, you jeopardize the future of many students attending these schools with all the negative propaganda.

So, like I said, instead of trying to ruin the hopes of foreign medical students trying to help others, find a new crusade or better yet EXCERCISE

Check out the St. Chris website and follow the link for Dakar campus.
Complete with photos and admission requirements. Of course it is all in french, as Senegal is mainly a french speaking country, so you can see why the England campus is the preferred choice for the majority of students.

Thanks,

jdmd73

actually, uniformed students may be the ones whose futures are in jeapordy. and it is the deceptive marketing practices that i would blame, as it is certainly not azskeptic's fault. for example, i would be pissed if i went to st chris, who said that the grads can be licensed in 48 states, only to find that this may not be true. don't kill the messenger. take a critical look at the message, and i think you will find that the points are valid.

all other factors being equal, i agree that the school makes little difference. but, there are a few schools that are head and shoulders above the rest...those of us in the second level of schools need to be careful and realistic about our goals and what the school can actually do to help us reach them.

I would like to add Medical University of the Americas to that list. Both St. Christopher's College of Medicine British campus and Medical University of the Americas Belize campus are branch campuses of their main campus in their country of charter. Do you have any policy on this or do you know of any US state licensing laws that may hinder their ability to be licensed?

Very Sincerely,[/quote][/quote]


The situation of MUA Belize is very different from the SC situation.

For MUA:
1. Real campus on Nevis, at present Nevis campus may have more students and faculty than Belize campus.
2. Both share same top management, central admission, and same head office, and applicants can choose to go to either campus.

These are real substance for branch office.

How about SC, do Luton campus and the Senegal campus share any central management? If nothing is share among the 2 campuses, other than the name, how can Luton campus be the branch campus of Senegal campus?

Look at a tree, there could be many branches, but there is only one root. I'm afraid that same school name does not equals same root. It should be the top top top management.

How do you know nothing is shared? Do you have info nobody else here does? Curious as to why you would make the statement when info is available on the stchris.edu website.

Neilc,

You state that those of us in the second level of schools need to be realistic in our goals......what does that mean? Does it mean that we should impose on ourselves a stigma that says we are inferior to those that attend a US school. The fact remains that almost 25% of licensed physicians in the USA are IMG's. Airmed is right when he states that the main difference is 18-24 months of didactic time done in England. I'm sure that most doctors will agree that the classroom time is only a small part of the foundation of our training. It needs to be in place, but the actual learning comes in the doing. That is why it is often referred to as "practicing medicine" I think that the education is solid at St. Chris. The high yield info is emphasized and the supporting info is there as well. I think the board scores of some of our recent grads are testament to this fact. Most are well above 200. As far as azsceptic is concerned I don't have a lot to say. The fact that we are allowed to sit the USMLE and obtain ECFMG certification should itself show that we are a legitimate school. Is he questioning those organizations in their judgement? What was his point in posting that letter without a response from FAIMER? Inflammatory at best. He should have received his reply and then posted them both. That would serve to better educate prospective students. People need to stop trying to instigate contention on these forums.

Regards

jdmd73