Deceptive offshore medical schools urged to legitimatise status

Oct 09, 2018 News

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A number of offshore medical schools here in Guyana are coming under the microscope after reports have surfaced that they have been deceptive about their accreditation status. According to reports reaching this publication, although these institutions have been granted approval by the National Accreditation Council of Guyana [NAC], the certificates obtained only qualify students to function right here in Guyana.
However, reports suggest that some of these institutions have been luring students, mainly from overseas, to their programmes by claiming that they are also accredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions [CAAM-HP].
CAAM-HP, which was established in 2003, is an accrediting body for medical, veterinary and dental schools for the Caribbean Community [CARICOM] member states.
Some are of the view that if an institution is accredited by NAC and are listed on its website [http://www.nac.gov.gy/] that they are properly accredited. This publication has however learnt that none of the offshore medical institutions listed on the NAC website are accredited by CAAM-HP.
Based on credible information that have reached this publication, at least one of the institutions has in recent times applied for accreditation from CAAM-HP but did not qualify. It is a fact, too, that CAAM-HP had cause to ink a “serious” letter to the institution even insisting that it does not attempt to apply for its accreditation until three years would have elapsed and it would have been able to meet all of the necessary accreditation criteria.
Despite this development, students have yet been lured to the institution which continues to claim that it has been accredited by CAAM-HP and therefore the programmes conducted there are recognised internationally.
Currently, the only institution that provides tertiary medical education in Guyana which benefits from CAAM-HP accreditation is the University of Guyana [UG] School of Medicine. Achieving accreditation and maintaining that accredited status has not been an easy task even for that institution which has been in existence for a number of years. This is in light of the fact that CAAM-HP conducts regular assessments to ensure that its accredited institutions have certain stipulated measures in place before they are reaccredited.
UG has on a few occasions lost its accreditation status and has had to work tirelessly to regain same. When asked to comment on the existing state of affairs regarding the offshore medical schools, Dr. Emanuel Cummings, who has been Dean of UG’s Faculty of Health Sciences Education for a number of years, a medical educator for even longer and has been affiliated with CAAM-HP too, advised that every effort be made by the institutions to be accredited.
“I want all of the offshore medical schools in Guyana to put systems in place to achieve CAAM-HP accreditation,” said Dr. Cummings.
The daunting development in Guyana comes at a time when a sister CARICOM country is moving to clamp down on offshore medical schools selling themselves in a deceptive manner.
The Barbados Sun in its October 6, 2018 edition, published an article headlined ‘Problems at Washington University’ which speaks to such deception.
The article read, “The Chief Executive Officer of the Washington University of Barbados, Gopi Venkat Rao, was taken into police custody yesterday.”
“Prior to his departure there was a long meeting with Government officials, students and the staff of the institution located at the Casa Grande Hotel at Oldbury, St. Phillips,” the article outlined. It continued by highlighting that “Issues ranged from the legitimacy of the establishment to poor living conditions. After the meeting was adjourned, Rao left the campus escorted by police.”
According to Dr. Cummings, while offshore schools could significantly benefit a country’s economy, it must be done in a legitimate matter. Such a move is crucial, he noted, if Guyana is to truly reap the benefits that medical education can bring.
Barbados is said to have seven offshore medical schools and is reportedly quickly becoming a hub for such activities. This development comes on the heels of the island tourism sector which is now redirecting focus to medical tourism.
“We are sitting on a ‘gold mine’…everybody is thinking about petroleum but medical education is a ‘gold mine’. So it is for us to upgrade the regional hospitals so that the students can do their training there because everybody is going to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation so it is saturated,” said Dr. Cummings.
The Dean has moreover committed his support, wherever possible, for Guyana to zero-in on this potential boost for the economy. “Once our offshore medical schools are properly accredited, Guyana will become a major destination for medical education…we don’t have to wait on oil, we can start seeing benefits now if we look in this direction,” assured the Health Sciences Dean.

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