BY GEORGINA KEKEA
THE Ministry of Education, Human Resources and Development (MEHRD) has decided NOT to send any more students under Cuba Scholarship scheme in medicine.
MEHRD Permanent Secretary (PS) Dr Franco Rodie says the scholarship was concentrated in training doctors but the Medical Board of the Ministry of Health (MHMS) decided not to focus the training in medicine anymore.
“It is anticipated that this bilateral cooperation would expand to other training needs of the country such as sports, engineering, tourism, agriculture and disaster management,” Rodie told Island Sun.
He said given the huge number of returning Cuban medical graduates, the National Referral Hospital has highlighted the need to better manage the training of doctors and the support required to ensure quality supervision and monitoring of the doctors’ internship programme.
Since the Medical Board of MHMS has decided not to focus the training in medicine, MEHRD is now providing support to students pursuing studies in biomedical engineering.
Biomedical engineering, or bioengineering, is the application of engineering principles to the fields of biology and health care.
Bioengineers work with doctors, therapists and researchers to develop systems, equipment and devices in order to solve clinical problems.
So far, two students had been sent to Cuba to pursue the biomedical engineering programme.
Solomon Islanders had been studying in Cuba for free since 2007, as it is a beneficiary of Cuban medical aid.
