Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA'S FIRST offshore medical training facility, the Sirlan College of Medicine, is having a bumpy ride in getting off the ground, says one of the project's partners.
The college should have opened its doors to some 125 students in September.
"Right now, this September is an unrealistic date," Dr. Sheldon Sirota told The Gleaner this week.
Dr. Sirota is a leading partner in the United States institution.
"We are still putting our pieces together ... we will be moving ahead ... slowly and properly," he said.
Dr. Sirota, however, refused to say why the college was unable to meet its initial opening date.
NO SUITABLE LOCATION
But The Gleaner has learnt that the main reason for the delay was that the college was unable to finalise a suitable location.
Initially the college, which got its charter from the Government last December, had planned to set up offices on the top floors of the Oceana Hotel in downtown Kingston.
But according to Christopher McNair, manager of investment promotions at Jamaica Promotions (JAMPRO), which is spearheading the investment, the partners had decided against using the Oceana Hotel because of the crime associated with downtown Kingston.
Mr. McNair said the partners were in negotiations with the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) to acquire the facilities of the Forum Hotel in Portmore. He said, though, that this had not yet been finalised.
Mr. McNair was, however, confident that the country would not lose this investment opportunity.
"We strongly believe that the project is going to happen," he said.
The college was planning to offer programmes in dentistry, veterinary science, nursing science and education.
Medical technology, pharmacy, surgery, public health, biomedical and sanitary engineering at the bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. levels were other programmes to be offered by the college.
The number of offshore medical schools has grown in recent years to satisfy demand from mostly American and Canadian students unable to get into schools at home.
Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Guyana are among the Caribbean countries offering medical training geared toward foreigners.
