Medical School

St James School of Medicine. My attention was caught by a throw-away line in Victor’s recent speech, published a few days ago on this blog as “Golf Course”. Right at the end of the speech he said, “and, the long awaited Medical School is scheduled to open in August/September and will create opportunities for the apartment rental sector and other businesses.” That was it. No further explanation.

I went off to do a little research on the internet.

The Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professionals would be the agency responsible for authorizing such a school. This Authority is the officially recognized institution for accrediting medical schools in the West Indies. It has existed since the year 2004 when the British General Medical Council abandoned us and went off to be fully integrated into Europe. The Authority has a website. I went to visit it. There are eight medical schools listed as having applied to the Authority for accreditation. Some of the schools have achieved full accreditation, while others are only provisionally accredited. I had a look at the details for each of them. I learned that these appear to range from No 1, the University of the West Indies to No 8, the University of the West Indies School of Veterinary Medicine. No 4 is the St James School of Medicine.

So, I went to the “details” page to learn what it had to say about the assessment of the Anguilla project. I found the following from the year 2007:

I note that Sir Graeme Catto and Professor ER Waldrond are the two persons who carried out the Anguilla assessment. Professor Sir Graeme Catto is well-known as the President of the General Medical Council of the UK. He is a Scottish doctor, Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen, Vice-Principal of King’s College and St Thomas’ Hospital Medical and Dental School. Professor ER “Mickey” Waldrond is a distinguished professor of medicine at UWI. This is a very serious team. Their recommendation that the school be given provisional accreditation must be given weight. The St James School was obviously not considered by them to be a fly-by-night operation.

But, I note that this 2007 assessment is only provisional. The assessment team was to have visited in six months time to see how the school was progressing in setting up the facilities for the admission of the first class of students. Did they ever pay this second visit? I cannot find any report of their later assessment, if it ever took place.

I do a little more exploring. I learn that the St James School of Medicine already has a West Indian operation. It has functioned in the island of Bonaire since 2001. YouTube even has a video about it. I find a few grouches posting negative things on various blogs. I find some doubt that the qualifications they give are acceptable in various States of the USA. Then, I go to their website.

I find something odd about the banner at the top of their home page. I say to myself, “Hold on, is that not a view of Road Bay in Anguilla taken from South Hill?”

It may be a minor thing, but I wonder to myself why would they want to illustrate a web page about a school in Bonaire with a picture of a bay in Anguilla.

I ask myself, is the plan to close down the Bonaire medical school and transfer all courses to Anguilla. What would cause them to take such a step?

Is Victor right that this school is about to start up in Anguilla in September?

If so, where is it going to be?

How come I have not heard of any activity on the island relating to the school since provisional approval was given in 2007?

It is all a complete mystery to me.