Plans by Global Education Providers (GEP) to establish a new medical school along the country’s west coast could boost employment in the St Joseph area, according to the proposal being put forward by the company.
The project has suffered a setback after the government refused the company permission to press ahead with setting up the medical school.
The matter is currently in court, with Global Education Providers appealing a ruling by Justice Brian Cottle against a judicial review of Education Minister Peter St Jean’s decision giving the thumbs down to the project.
According to the company, the proposed school, which would be the third such institution on the island, would benefit the country in more ways than one.
It says the permanent campus will be built in the vicinity of St Joseph on the West Coast.
The GEP proposal, a copy of which DNO has seen, suggests that employment would be “created for residents of the west coast and also much needed economic activity will be created for St Joseph and its environs”.
“Dominica will benefit significantly from having a third medical school by contributions to government revenues like stamp duties, government taxes, hotel occupancy, and in addition the local private sector will see a further increase in retail activities, car rentals, restaurant services, travel agencies and most importantly, accommodation rental,” the company says in making the case for its project to be given the green light.
The Roosevelt Skerrit-led Dominica Labour Party government in turning down the proposal, argued that the existing two medical schools completely exhaust the limited capacity of the available hospitals and medical and health centres to accommodate the daily rotation of students from these schools.
However the GEP proposal says that the company plans to, in the short term, “build a University Hospital where our students will receive part of their clinical experience while at the same time provide critical tertiary care for the Dominican public …”.
The two medical schools currently operating in Dominica are the Portsmouth-based Ross University, and the All Saints University School of Medicine based in the capital city, Roseau.
This is pretty pathetic. These potential “doctors” are entering these school without any prior exams ie MCAT. They can also get in with a high school diploma. That is ridiculous! No wonder more and more people seem to dislike going to the doctors. I haven’t seen one in 7 yrs! How can you trust a doctor who had to leave the country and pay their way to get into a professional school.
i cana beleive skerrit refusing development. i doe kniw how dem man for the people ya.i 21 years and since i live scholl i cana get a job and skerrit refusing
labour have a nasty surprise coming for the from the people of st.joseph doh worry skerrit you have to come good ehh cause we watching you
Doc, you are better off with your company in investing in a Top-Notch Private Hospital in Dominica with top-notch care, top-notch doctors and nurses within a wholesome environment. We already have Ross and All-Saints plus UWI School of Medicine in Jamaica and other off-shore medical schools in the other islands. Use your head, Doc, and think more wisely.
Why don’t they do a medical school on the east coast? The west coast is too top heavy. The people over there need medical care too.
Portsmouth in particular and D.A. in general should support and protect Ross but not against competition. St. Jean’s view is a reflection of the biases of the prime minister find it fit to give Ross the monopoly and concentrate on Portsmouth alone. Peter be wise if you are from the east before Skerit transform your constituency into a landfill.
Government and All Saints School of Medicine officials lied to the poor people of Grand Bay about establishing a medical school and built a jail on the same sport instead. The medical school will definitely inject some income in the already sluggish economy in St. Joseph as opposed to life in Grand Bay where they constructed more prison cells.
boy my only strength is my vote eh, so i refrain from emotional outbursts till after elections. I WILL BE COUNTED.
DNO, You guys may wish to do some research re the Ross medical school also i hope to see a tv investigative report or something that could give us the Dominican people on how Ross has transformed the Dominican Economy and the North of the Island there seem to be enough material for a program like this, pl lets have it. There was opposition from the Dominica Freedom party when this school was about to break ground in Dominica, i remember at the time the decease Hon Maynard was minister of health and education at the time and the Hansard of the House of Assembly will bear me out on this he had all kinds of negatives to say, at the time he refered to it AS THE OFFSHORE MEDICAL SCHOOL, i was present at the first graduation in my capacity as a lead vocalist of a band from the community of Mahaut who provide musical entertainment for the graduation ceremony,and he as minister then was not even present although he was invited. Today look at what Ross has done to the second town, i am almost sure those business places like HHV whitchurch who were supportive of the freedom party then are the ones who are extended their businesses to the north and making good of what they oppose in the eighties, preventing another young business man from the north from eating a food as we would say in local palance, May God Bless the souls of the deceased Hon Michael Douglas and Hon. Rossie Douglas who on every occasion they got lend their voices in parliament for Ross, on every occassion Ross wanted to expand they met with problems and opposition from freedom party, the vet school that was suppose to be here went to St. Kitts because of Freedom party making things difficult, today HISTORY is repeating itself the same way that the freedom party did, the only difference its a local man involve, and the only reason for this refusal from this government in granting the DR. this permission is the fair it will create in the minds of this politicians, i will end by saying this one day another community be it St. Joe or the west coast will be transformed and we will see those who oppose this transformation be the benificiaries
If that is the government’s response and rationale then i can only say wow. These are the kind of decision makers we havr running the country? The benifit far outweigh that one hiccup yet a decision is made based on a hiccup.This small ,in the box mentality cannot take us anywhere.
Absolute myopia!!!!!
If the existing medical schools exhaust our hospitals and health centres, why not tie this new project with the responsibility of opening a new hospital where locals can get good quality care at subsidised rates?
Let’s face it, if we are shopping for the tourist dollar, we must be fully aware that if tourist start coming they will bring with them diseases and if we can offer them top of the line care, then we would probably be able to develop a new niche in the market and start marketting ourselves as the health tourism capital of the world.
While at it Rastaman posting above makes a good point with regards to agro industry and training. The former St Andrews High school campus at Londonderry represents an excellent site for a medical school campus, it is close to the airport, there is a physical layout condusive to education and training, there are some flat green spaces which can be manicured for terrific photo opportunities and there is a river and sea water near by, added to this are the many unoccupied properties at Wesley which could provide student accomodation.
Since no team sees the benefit, I would suggest that All Saints be moved out of the crowded Roseau to Londonderry or alternatively seek funding for the development of an agro-canning factory at Londonderry. In its current state that facility is simply lying in waste!!!
ANONYMOUS, Before you sound off please ask the professionals-professors,doctors,lecturers and the like-locals and non locals- what the true position is. You may also check with the Ministries of Finance and Health and the Income Tax Department.Or if you prefer ask former ministers who were there when the decision was taken many years ago.Or ask the ROSS officials in the paying department.
So what gonna happen when (DEP) decide to shut down the School now,,,
Where is the Economic Data to reflect the impact on the Economy when these Schools decides that there is a better location somewhere else in the world thats giving more incentives than Dominica, to House their Learning Institution(s),,,
“The Roosevelt Skerrit-led Dominica Labour Party government in turning down the proposal, argued that the existing two medical schools completely exhaust the limited capacity of the available hospitals and medical and health centres to accommodate the daily rotation of students from these schools”
Waw I thought I brought up a similar issue about the limited capacity of the medical facilities to deal with the influx of tourist, in a previous debate when an article was posted about the hotel at Cabrits,,,
I wonder if the Skerrit Administration took a look at that issue when they looked at the proposal for the Hotel at Cabrits,,,
I don’t know why Mista dem not looking at proposals for Agro industry yeah,,,
The WHole world is hooked on Organic Products where else in the world that have more fertile Virgin reach Volcanic Soil,,,
The Soil in Dominica so fertile somebody could practically spit on it and a child will grow from it wi,,,
Skerrit I doh know if you does come dere an-read dis,,, but Bredren start looking at ways to improve the Deep Water harbor nuh,,,
Now look I see all Man selling Coconut Water in Bottle at them supermarkets In the US, Bredren look at revitalizing Bello, and Coconut products nuh,,,
ALL THEM STUDENTS YOU SENDING TO STUDY FOR FREE PUT THEIR TO USE NUH,,,
You mean all that study they go an-do they cannot come up with some Market Research for the Local industries in Dominica???
C’Mon man doh just shut down the School Show where the investments and vital economic growth should be heading,,,
The article said, “… the existing two medical schools completely exhaust the limited capacity of the available hospitals and medical centres to accommodate the daily rotation of students from these schools.”
This sounds like a fair and valid reason to deny the proposal. However, I hope that proponents of the new school do their groundwork to determine whether or not this statement is true. Visit these medical centres and hospitals, meet with the administrators and find out what the state of each centre’s capacity really is.
What we don’t want is to open another medical school here promising X number of guaranteed positions for clinical training and then when the students are ready for said training, they’re unable to complete that part of their degree requirements because our hospitals and clinics are filled.
All projects will create jobs in the initial stages of course, especially in the planning stage, but in reality when will the jobs be creates.
Remember Athie’s great green water project which was supposedly going to provide hundreds of job and on which Dominica’s economy would be based, is yet to come on stream after the approval was given by government in January 2009.
Had the government say no, we wouldn’t hear the end of this great project. By the way when will Athie sell a shot of water to help the economy?
Stop being a coonoumounu! Athie was given a license and for whatever reason he did not/ may not utilize it. Did it harm the country in anyway? No! For all you know the same people that gave him the license MAY have had other motives..(Read my lips!)
Give the man a damn chance let him try out his idea. And if he fails what harm will that be to the government? FYI, its better to try and fail than never to try at all. If the majority of us Dominicans have your kind of attitude ebeh NOU FE-NEE-BAT!
UNBELIEVABLE!!!! When will Dominicans get it? Huh? When? See what this vindictive, bankrupt regime is putting our very own Dr. Fererra who have served Dominica for so long through to establish a medical school and see they giving the opportunity to people the know nothing about! When will Dominican get it? How long will they continue to tolerate this nonsense that is going on in this country. UNBELIEVABLE!!
Calm down or you might end up being the first patient at that hospital.
Wait a minute if a man cannot manage a simple fry chicken business, how can he manage a Big medical school, maybe St.jean did a curvin a favor.
If POLITICAL CONSTIPATION does not destroy this country I dont know what will. I just cant believe that in this times of economic strife, private citizens would present such a good proposal for investment and they are being denied. There is nothing else to say other than SHAME, SHAME on the government.
Where is the right Hon. Kelver in this mess? What is his opinion (if he has one)? Does he have an alternative employment creating opportunity for his constituency/ home village that we dont know about?
Election time is around the corner so I will wait and see what excuse he will give his constituency for this gross injustice.
BRING THAT SCHOOL ALONG. no DUOPOLY IN DOMINICA.
The estimated employment figures were not stated and should be.The Company should receive fiscal incentives and concessions including exemption from payment of income tax on all income derived from employment at the School on the same terms as ROSS UNIVERSITY currently enjoys and have been enjoying from the date of its establishment. NOTHING LESS.
I wonder where you get your stats because I pay my long +$900 in income tax every month. So all you like to run all you mouth with no facts. Ask inland revenue if we not paying income tax.
The Dominica Labour party do not care about the village of St.Joseph but is so the villagers have a surprise for the DLP