|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The surge in illegal immigration to western countries has been the subject of focus in recent years leading countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom to announce stricter migration policies.
However, according to St George’s University School of Medicine Regional Director for Students Recruitment for Africa Bradley Wade, the demand for skilled manpower such as doctors will continue unhindered.
“In fact we find that the US no matter which administration is in power, is very pro-skilled legal migration and certainly doctors are a highly sort after as a skilled profession. There is a huge shortage of doctors in the US, so we have never really had any problems with our students being able to access the US,” said Wade.
According to projections by Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), the US alone will face physician shortage of up to 86,000 by 2036.
In its latest intake, the institution based in Grenada, West Indies has enrolled 9 students from Kenya, which is one of its fastest growing markets for international students from Sub-Saharan Africa to do their medical degree with possibilities of practicing in the US and the UK.
“First pre-clinical training is on-campus in Grenada and then student complete their clinical trainings in hospitals in the US where we have got over 60 hospitals to choose from. Our route to the UK we have a partner university in the UK called North Umbria where students would spend some of their time in the UK, some time in Grenada and then they would do their clinical in the UK hospitals and we have got about 17 hospitals in the UK.
Shelmith Muriungi is one of the 20 students who attended the medical ethics lecture by the university in Kenya and hoping to secure a slot to work in the US and the UK.
“The flexibility to work either in the US or the UK broadens my future ambitions and since I’m not sure where I would like to work, it gives me flexibility,” she said.
Muriungi went on, “I expect a lot of support, in terms of resource and maybe emotional support since you are far away from home and also connect with other people because it an international school.”
According to Wade, St George’s University School of Medicine has been the largest provider of new doctors into first year US residency in the world.
“We have an average of about 15 new students from Sub-Saharan Africa every year enrolling with us and we are investing in our teams across Africa to try and provide more exposure to students looking for international medical schools and we hope to see that grow to about 75 students on average per year from the region,” said Wade.
To support needy students who have qualified to join the university but are unable to raise the Ksh 48.6 million ($376,986) four year tuition fee, the university says it also offers scholarships.
“SGU recognizes that international students struggle in terms of international university students tuition fees, so we do provide some partial tuition financial aid through scholarships, bursaries and loans as well. Even after all of that, a student does need to have a significant financial means to be able to access international medical school,” Wade stated.
To date, SGU says it has graduated at least 23,000 doctors out of which, 15,000 are practicing in the US and the UK while the rest found work opportunities in more than 50 countries around the world.
