168 doctors, 55 nurses to take oath

A TOTAL of 168 medical doctors and 55 nurses will take the oath next week Thursday as graduates of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

And with the coming on stream of the Couva and Arima hospitals, it is expected that upon completion of internship, the graduating medics and nurses will easily find employment within the public sector.

UWI's official invitation sent out yesterday, also disclosed that 29 students have qualified as dentists and 24 as veterinary doctors. They also will take the oath, along with 51 pharmacists and 23 optometrist. The oath-taking will be held at UWI Sports & Physical Education Centre.

This year's graduation signals the largest turnout of local health professionals in several years. Many of them, however, are from other Caribbean countries. The new Arima hospital, situated on five hectares of land, is a primary in-patient health care facility equipped with 150 beds.

It will serve the needs of people in D’Abadie, La Horquetta, Malabar and Arouca. It is being built under the supervision of Udecott and is dedicated to a wide range of medical services including radiology, physiotherapy, psychiatry, orthopaedics/burns, optical, ENT, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and surgery.

The hospital will also offer ambulance services, accident and emergency, pharmacy/dispensary, laboratory/blood bank and mortuary services.

The Couva Medical and Multi-training Facility, is a full-service adult care facility with state-of-the-art clinical services. It is also a teaching facilities for medical specialists. A section of it is an 80-bed hospital dedicated to paediatrics and women. A three-storey building on the compound containing 150 beds, will also house adult patient-care wards.

Government announced in last year's budget that the hospital's management would enter into a foreign partnership to utilise the hospital facilities for medical tourism.

Thursday's event will see the feature address delivered by professor Clive Landis who is pro vice-chancellor of undergraduate studies. Dean of the faculty of medical sciences professor Terence Seemungal, will welcome the new doctors. The event is being co-ordinated by the faculty of medical sciences programme co-ordinator Deborah Crichlow.