"THE INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION SHARES THAT 2020 VISION OF SUPERIOR QUALITY HEALTH SERVICES, BY SUPPLYING THIS SECTOR WITH CERTIFIED, PROFESSIONAL, HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONERS."

THE CHALLENGES

Our nation has taken a decision to attain first world status according to vision 2020. It is factual that our health care administration has, and is still being constantly subjected to criticisms, some of them justifiable, pertaining to the delivery of health care to our population. It is also a fact that we do have a significant number of registered doctors and nursing personnel. However, it is an indisputable fact that doctors and nurses cannot run an efficient health care system by themselves, since they will always require trained ancillary health care personnel to complement their efforts. Unfortunately, in Trinidad and Tobago, we have traditionally placed major emphasis on the doctors and nurses sector in terms of advancing the health care needs of our country, and we firmly believe that this has been an error, and has magnified the inefficiencies of our health care system.

"THE TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION OF ANCILLARY HEALTH CARE PERSONNEL"

THE SOLUTION

For far too long we have been bombarded with the plethora of problems that exist within our healthcare system, and the ineffectual efforts that have been made to rectify the situation.  As we have expressed before, much responsibility lies on our ancillary healthcare personnel who are either untrained and/or poorly trained, especially those who function in the private health care sector. What we propose to do is to systematically present opinions and recommendations for correcting these aberrations in our healthcare system.

Firstly, we would like to address the problem of the shortage of trained, qualified, and certified health care practitioners in our country. Apart from the brain drain syndrome which has spawned the influx of foreign health care workers, oftentimes professional training facilities are not readily and easily accessed. We have seen, heard and felt the political and industrial relations pain and chaos resulting from this particular solution to the health care problems. We have founded a tertiary institution in the industrial capital San Fernando, appropriately called The Institute of Medical Education.

The Institute of Medical Education is a company registered under the company’s ordinance of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

In concert with the intention of the state to commit our country to the goals of VISION 2020, the Ministry of Health is embarking on a thrust to provide a national health insurance scheme for the entire citizenry of our twin island republic. Moreover, as a result of the launch of the Caribbean Single Market Economy, a fresh interest is being placed upon the necessity for citizens of CARICOM countries to obtain training and certification in different fields of employment related endeavour.

The Institute of Medical Education is fully aware of the major gaps in the services that are essential for the advancement of the goals that have been identified in order to produce a more efficient health care system in our country, and we are convinced that our school can fill the niche which exists in the provision of training of allied health care personnel. We have entered into an alliance with the National Health Career Association of the United States, one of the largest and most influential bodies of its type in North America. The NHA has developed a confidence to readily lend its prestigious name to a close relationship with our institute.  The NHA would be responsible for the setting and correction of papers of examinations which are based on curricula approved by the NHA.

The IME is committed to the propagation of the highest standards in the various aspects of ancillary health care.