Medical school moves to new campus
There was a dedication ceremony held last night at the junction of the Northern Highway and Boom Road. And no, it wasn’t another telecommunications tower.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
After years in cramped confines, this week the Central America Health Sciences University, Belize Medical College is branching out…moving its campus to the Data Pro Compound at mile thirteen and a half on the Northern Highway. While the new building will have all the comforts of home, it will also include a special feature: wireless internet access.
Janelle Chanona
“How much does it cost to move the school like this?”
Dr. Murali Rudraraju
“Hundred thousand just for building the construction and with wireless and everything, it is coming close to two hundred and fifty thousand Belize dollars.”
According to college’s director of development, Dr. Murali Rudraraju, the change of address will prove that Belize is a viable option for medical students.
Janelle Chanona
“How do you begin to compete with medical universities in the states like John Hopkins, with only a student population of thirty and a staff of eight?”
Dr. Murali Rudraraju
“In the past, we were almost pretty much competing. In the past, we had fifty students, sixty students at one point but the international reputation of Belize has gone down due to the instability created with other medical schools. One of the medical schools, St. Matthews, just moving out the country all of a sudden, and international students feel Belize is not a stable environment for them to come.”
“All our pass rates for all our students is just amazing. We are getting like eighty-nine percent, ninety-two percent, ninety-four percent…that is our students we are training here, they’re getting that.”
Janelle Chanona
“No, but I mean for sceptics who might think, I don’t particularly trust a doctor who got his medical degree in Belize City.”
Dr. Murali Rudraraju
“They wouldn’t say that because the training is just not in Belize City, it is both in the U.S. and in the U.K. So they can never say that because the clinical training is from a diversified international state of the art training hospitals.”
Even though some two hundred and twenty-five students are enrolled at the university, only thirty study in Belize…and when they are off duty, the students do get a prescription to play at the school’s recreational areas.
Dr. Murali Rudraraju
“Swimming pool, football court, we are going to have a tennis court within the next few months, and also a basketball court. And then we are also to have an auditorium within the next few months, which would screen documentaries on health and education and will be open to the public as well.”
According to the school, classes will start at the new building on Friday. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
For living quarters the medical students will be renting houses at nearby Los Lagos.
