Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
Serious concerns about the number of teaching contact hours being received by medical students at the University of the West Indies (UWI) have been raised by Dr. John Hall, president of the Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ).
However, educators at the institution have dismissed the president's concerns as groundless.
Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum on Wednesday, Dr. Hall said: "The MAJ is quite concerned about the training of physicians and the quality of the end product we doctors receive in the clinical arena. We are taxpayers investing heavily in these training programmes which are quite costly."
reliance on technology
"We are concerned about the contact hours of teaching they receive as opposed to what appears to be a reliance on audio-visual and other technology," he added.
He told the audience, including other health officials the that the aim is not to denigrate the training programme but to ensure that excellent standards are maintained. The Editors' Forum, which reviewed the State of the Nation's Health, was held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston.
However, Dr. Trevor McCar-tney, chairman of the Medical Council of Jamaica and senior medical officer at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and Professor Everard Barton, head of the department of medicine at UWI, disagreed with Dr. Hall.
standards maintained
"I have been examining for 22 years for the university and comments over the years have suggested that the University of the West Indies produces some of the best doctors internationally. The standards have been maintained and the product is superb," Dr. McCartney asserted during the forum.
After the forum he told The Gleaner that there is a new curriculum in the Faculty of Medical Sciences and that a number of persons have expressed apprehension about it.
"In the old curriculum there was a clear separation between pre-clinical (which is for two years) and clinical (three years),but in the new curriculum significant portions of the training is integrated. So there is some apprehension but it is a different type of teaching more in keeping with the rest of the world," Dr. McCartney related.
Professor Barton added: "I must say we are well aware of what is happening internationally and that the contact is adequate with our students. I do not think he has anything to fear in this regard and this has been verified by our international examiners and observers here."
