The Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) has fully accredited The University of the West Indies’ Medical Programme, lauding it for its “outstanding students, enthusiastic and committed teachers including residents (house staff).

In a letter to the Vice Chancellor of the UWI, Professor Nigel Harris, the Board of CAAM-HP noted that “graduates of the MBBS course of UWI, achieve high international standards at the time of graduation.”

This is the first medical programme to be accredited by the newly created CAAM-HP which was established by CARICOM as a Regional Accreditation Body for medical programmes in the Caribbean after the General Medical Council (GMC) of England, advised it would no longer be responsible for accreditation of medical schools outside of Britain and the European Union.

Accreditation of the UWI culminates a year long process that began in July 2005, with a comprehensive internal review of the UWI Medical Programme at its four sites - Mona (Jamaica), St. Augustine (Trinidad), Cave Hill (Barbados), and the Nassau Campus (Bahamas).

The internal review was conducted by academic staff, students, medical residents and University administrators, and it examined in depth areas such as the governance and administration of the programme, medical students services, the educational programme, educational resources, academic staff and the internship programme.

A full report was prepared by the UWI institutional team and submitted to CAAM-HP, following which a site visit to assess the Programme at the four sites was made by a committee of international medical educators, led by Professor David Hawkins, Secretary, Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools.

Other members of the site visit team included Dr. Emmanuel Cummings, (Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences - University of Guyana), Professor Roger Green, (Former Dean, University of Manchester, England), Dr. Patrick Rooney (Chair, Department of Clinical Skills, St. George’s University, Grenada) and Dr. Joanne Bates (Senior Associate Dean for Education, University of British Columbia).

The Site Visit Team prepared a comprehensive report of its findings and submitted them to the Board of CAAM-HP, which made its decision to accredit the UWI Medical Programme at its July 7-8, 2006 meeting.

A Bill to give effect in Jamaica to the Agreement establishing the CAAM-HP was recently passed by the Jamaican Parliament. The Accreditation Standards and the Accreditation Process used by CAAM-HP are almost identical with those of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), which is the Accreditation Body for the Schools of Medicine in the Continental USA and Hawaii. The Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools is closely associated with the LCME.
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For more information, contact: Mrs. Lorna Parkins, Executive Director, Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions, P.O. Box 5167, Kingston 6, Jamaica. Tel: (876) 977-2014; or the Public Relations Offices at the three campuses: Mrs. Carroll Edwards, Mona Campus, 876-977-5941; Mr. Chelston Lovell, Cave Hill Campus, 246-417-4077; Mrs. Dawn-Marie Defour Gill, St. Augustine Campus, 868-662-2002 ext. 2316.

July 21, 2006