Life
University of the West Indies (Mona) to commission new state-of-the-art medical school
(Jamaica Observer) – Only 15 percent Of the 15,000 qualified students applying to study Medicine at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus each year are accepted because of space constraints. This is set to change with the completion of a new J$3.5-billion (US$39 million) medical faculty building.
The 50,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility is 90 percent completed; however, the university’s current batch of 350 medical students started classes two weeks ago in the six-story structure. With its ultra-modern fixtures and amenities, the new Faculty of Medical Sciences Teaching and Research Complex is a vast improvement over the old medical faculty, which was first built in 1948 to accommodate 33 students.
“Constructing a proper facility for the basic medical sciences was something that had been discussed for a long time,” said Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies and former Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences Professor Archibald McDonald.
But while such a need existed, the urgency of the situation came into sharp relief in 2004, when government announced a cut in the university’s subvention and the faculty was mandated to come up with J$57 million (US$ 630,000) to finance its budget.
“The way to do that was either to cut staff or to earn it,” said the professor, who was at the forefront of the construction project which commenced in 2010.
The building itself is a lesson in modern construction and is expected to shape health care, both locally in Jamaica, regionally within the Caribbean and internationally.
There are five large lecture theaters — three of which are already in use — 25 tutorial rooms, 45 small research labs for staff, and 12 larger research laboratories that afford students a spectacular view of the Mona dam and equipped with the latest multimedia technologies.
