The proposal to establish a regional, independent body for the accreditation of Medical Education and other Health Professional programmes has been endorsed by both the VI Special Meeting of CARICOM Ministers of Education and the VIII Meeting of the Council for Human and Special Development (COHSOD) of the Caribbean Community.  This approval completes important steps in the process towards adoption of the proposal by the CARICOM Heads of Government, which is meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica in July.

The University of the West Indies had taken the initiative to launch discussions on the establishment of such a body early in 2002 and convened a Steering Committee with wide representation from all stakeholders, including medical students.  This move was in anticipation of the announcement by the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom – which was eventually made in June 2002 – that the system of accrediting medical education programmes of Commonwealth Universities, thereby granting to graduates of these programmes automatic licence to practice in the United Kingdom, would be discontinued.  Amendment of the United Kingdom Medical Act of 1983 now requires that all doctors trained outside of the UK or the European Union (including those trained in the United States, Canada, the Commonwealth and other Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) would be required to pass the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Boards (PLAB) test in order to become registered medical practitioners in the United Kingdom.  This has nothing to do with any depreciation of standards of training, but rather, reflects the geo-political reality flowing from the UK’s membership of the European Union.  It is expected that the Proposal will be submitted to the CARICOM Head of Government