Implications of off-shore medical schools in the Commonwealth Caribbean

Facilities existing and planned in the University of the West Indies for training the medical manpower requirements of the Caribbean Commonwealth are adequate and can be extended to meet additional future needs. No valid justification exists, therefore, for the development in the area of off-shore medical schools promoted by profit-oriented entrepreneurs who have little or no experience in medical education and aimed principally at students from the United States who have failed to secure admission to an American medical school. Such students are liable to experience serious disappointments either in transferring to the United States for the clinical half of their course or in qualifying for entrance to postgraduate training programs sponsored by American educational authorities. Participation in the establishment of such medical schools has already generated unfavorable publicity, which can be ill-afforded by the countries of the English-speaking Caribbean.