By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: The new College of Medicine at Qatar University (QU) was officially inaugurated yesterday by Minister of Public Health H E Abdullah bin K Al Qahtani and Vice-Chair of QU Board of Regents Sheikh Dr Abdullah bin Ali Al Thani.
It will offer a six-year programme, which leads to a Doctor of Medicine degree (MD). In the pioneering batch of 83 male and female students are pursuing the MD programme following placement tests. Among them 55 percent are Qataris with 59 students overall achieving the required language and mathematics standards necessary to join the first year of the MD programme, while the rest were accepted into the Foundation Programme.
The College of Medicine initially has recruited 10 academic staff, since students will study a co-curriculum in the first year at different colleges within the QU. The College of Medicine is the eighth college of QU and was established in 2014 by QU Board of Regents based on a directive from Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
It’s established to addresses the increasing need for Qatar-trained physicians and supports the country’s growing healthcare sector.
Minister of Education and Higher Education and Supreme Education Council Secretary-General H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi, and Minister of Administrative Development H E Dr Issa Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi were also present at the inauguration ceremony.
QU President Dr Hassan Al Derham, QU Vice-President for Medical Education and Dean of College of Medicine Dr Egon Toft, Prof Sheikha Abdulla Al Misnad, the fifth president of QU under whose leadership the college was founded, College of Medicine’s International Advisory Board and Johns Hopkins Medicine International Vice-President of Academic Affairs Prof Charles Wiener were also present.
“Building a global health system contributes to offering integrated health services which require well-qualified human resources equipped with necessary skills, knowledge and capacities to shape a cadre of national professionals who will provide high-quality health services in line with the goals of Qatar Vision 2030.
“There is no doubt that QU, which is Qatar’s national university, plays a core role in achieving national strategies in healthcare and education,” said Al Qahtani. The first year of the MD programme at the college aims to engage students’ understanding of the processes of accredited medical education, while assessing their abilities and talents.
Students who have succeeded to the second year will undergo tests to evaluate their performance and level of adaptation to the requirements of the programme. Dr Al Derham said, “The main task of the college, which we all attach great hopes for, is graduation of qualified national medical doctors, according to global curricula and standards, which are designed to meet Qatar’s specific needs.”
The Peninsula
