BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DOORS to educational, occupational and other opportunities for locals are expected to swing open sometime in the future with the establishment of an international university and hospital on St. Kitts.
In delivering the most recent Post-Cabinet briefing, Minister of State with responsibility for Education, Youth Affairs, Labour, Social Security, Information & Technology, Hon. Senator Nigel Carty informed that on Monday (Jan. 26) that Cabinet gave its final stamp of approval for the establishment of a Dixon Byrd Group-operated university and university hospital.
A couple of weeks prior, Cabinet had given “provisional approval” to the project and, according to Carty, government is expected to sign a formal agreement with the Group “very shortly”.
Within that agreement, Carty outlined, would be stipulated conditions which would provide for the advancement of locals.
“The agreement will set out the high standards by which the medical university and hospital are to operate. It will also secure a number of scholarship positions on an annual basis for nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis to pursue training in medicine at the university and the appointment of local professionals to the Board of Directors of the university.
“Government is keen to ensure that local people are advanced as it seeks to attract development of various kinds into the country at this time, and sees the scholarships and the Board of Directors positions as important avenues for advancing the development of our people.”
According to the Communications Unit of the Prime Minister (CUOPM), other conditions of the agreement include the establishment of a Department of Radiological Science “that will utilise medical imaging as an adjunct for teaching anatomy and pathology”, training of locals to operate machinery in that department and a 10-year tax holiday for the university.
CUOPM reports that the university, which is expected to accommodate 1 500 over time, along with the “12-bed” university hospital, would be constructed on 25 acres of land.
Carty informed that the university and the hospital would be located near Ottleys and would provide economic opportunities not only for the people of that and surrounding areas but, by extension, for the people of the entire country.
“...the government sees the establishment of tertiary level institutions in the country as part of the development of the tourism industry, the construction industry and the expansion of the services industry in the entire Federation.”
The medical university, according to CUOPM, “has been established as a school of medicine to confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine upon students who have completed the prescribed course of study and demonstrated academic, clinical and ethical conduct commensurate with a degree”.
