The Tribune

By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

HEALTH Minister Dr Duane Sands said yesterday the government is still waiting for the University of the West Indies to provide it with the data of all Bahamian students who enrolled in the medical programme this semester.

He said the government needs this information in order to determine the number of students who entered this year "with the expectation that The Bahamas government would pay" for their tuition.

While Dr Sands reiterated that in the future the government will cap subventions to 25, he said it does not wish to "inconvenience" students currently matriculating at the Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados UWI campuses.

On September 21, Dr Sands told The Tribune that UWI was informed of the cap "well in advance" of this current school year; however, the institution continued to accept pupils "with the expectation" that their tuition would be paid by the Bahamian government.

Noting the challenge this creates for pupils, at the time Dr Sands said the government had requested UWI provide it with the data of all students who have been accepted.

"At that point on a case-by-case basis, we can make decisions as a government as to whether or not there are students who have been inappropriately inconvenienced and whether some flexibility is applied this year," Dr Sands said then.

When asked yesterday if there has been an update on the status of subventions, Dr Sands described the situation as challenging.

"This is yet another challenging issue," he said. "We have made it very clear that we support the training of young Bahamians.

"However, the people of The Bahamas can only afford to provide a certain number of scholarships because we need to see those people that we invest in, not only through their medical education, but through their internship and subsequent training.

"We have committed to 25 medical trainees sponsored at the UWI programmes in Jamaica, in Barbados and in Trinidad. That message was conveyed to the universities.

"At this point, as of yesterday (Tuesday), we are still trying to get the information as to how many Bahamian students have been accepted and enrolled with the expectation that the Bahamas government would pay for them. At last count the number was more than 50.

"And so the question is, given that the Bahamian people pay these scholarships, what is the right number? We don't wish to inconvenience any family or any student.

"But we have to make sure that if the Bahamian people make a commitment, that we can see that student all the way through, provided that they keep their socks up, study hard, work hard, and make us proud."

Last month, the health minister noted all scholarships fall under the remit of the Ministry of Education. However, he said moving forward there will be more collaboration between the two ministries.