PAHO's recommended target

I doubt that anyone would question the need for graduates in either the nursing profession or the field of physical therapy. Nor should you ignore the contribution of graduates from the Basic Medical Sciences programme, who go on to pursue successful careers in other areas of the health sciences, such as pharmacology, drug research, forensic science and biotechnology.

I also take issue with your assertion that Jamaica's citizens are underserved by the physicians who graduate from the UWI, Mona, since most "will emigrate soon after becoming full-fledged doctors". According to current statistics from Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), the ratio of physician coverage to the population is one to every 4,000 residents, surpassing PAHO's recommended target of one to every 5,000.

No doubt, some of our trained doctors will seek employment abroad. In part, this is because the UWI, Mona, degree is internationally recognised for its very high qua-lity and our graduates are qualified to work anywhere in the world. However, that some graduates migrate should not be cause for undue alarm since, as stated above, physician coverage of the country is already high, as middle-income economies go, and this coverage, given UWI's recent initiative to increase access to fully self-financing medical students, is on the increase.

One area that undoubtedly needs to be addressed is the coverage of communities in the rural areas, but you would no doubt agree that this is not solely the responsibi-lity of the UWI, but a matter to be addressed by public policy.

Your editorial incorrectly suggests that taxpayers are bearing the cost of training all the doctors who graduate from UWI, Mona. The Government of Jamaica provides an 80 per cent subsidy for entry into the UWI's Faculty of Medical Sciences to only 55 medical sciences students annually. Because the demand for training in medicine is great, both locally and internationally, the UWI, Mona, in recent years, has increased its annual intake of medi-cal sciences students by some 100 per cent by offering them entry as full fee-paying students. The implication is that in a couple of years, the UWI, Mona, will be, on an annual basis, doubling its output of physicians at no additional cost to the taxpayers.

Specialists

Also, you should not discount the role of the UWI, Mona, in training specialists, through the postgraduate DM programmes, for Jamaica and the entire region. This represents a major contribution. Specialists in medicine, surgery, etc, are now found in all public hospitals in Jamaica. The DM programmes were started in the early 1970s at the request of the regional governments to train specialists to work in the region and it has certainly fulfilled this mandate. Also, research from the faculty has informed public policy and has resulted in improved patient care and a reduction in the prevalence of several diseases. Interventional work by the Kingston Paediatric Aids Research Group (KPAIDS) has resulted in a reduction in mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus from 27 to less than five per cent. The lifestyle survey which forms the basis for the Ministry of Health (MOH) programme to reduce chronic diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, was done by UWI researchers in collaboration with MOH colleagues who are also UWI graduates. Then there is the work of Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughan and colleagues, which has informed the Child Development Policy put out by the Ministry of Education.

On another note, to recommend that the Jamaican Government realign its subsidy away from the medical sciences, humanities and the social sciences and further, impose a bond on each graduate, is imprudent, given the statistics. In any event, the bonding of graduates is a matter for public policy, and not for the UWI. The fact is that university students of all countries gravitate towards programmes that will ensure them employment upon graduation. Contrary to your assumption, universities' teaching programmes, unlike their research activity, do not jump-start economic growth; their teaching programmes are created to respond to student demand.

Employment opportunities

Economies that are in growth mode, such as is the case with Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, provide employment opportunities in sectors such as engineering. It is precisely because Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are enjoying economic growth as a result of their oil and tourism-related products, and because of these governments' capacity to fund the full economic costs of their university students' education, without, by the way, imposing any sort of bonding on their graduates, that the UWI can satisfy students' demand for programmes that those thriving economies are able to support.

That Jamaica's students are not pursuing engineering and agriculture in large numbers may be a reflection of their perception that there exists a limited market in this country for these skills, or, as you have acknowledged, it could be due to the fact that it is more expensive to pursue the programmes since they are offered at UWI's St Augustine campus in Trinidad and Tobago. At the same time, it also reflects the challenges which exist at the secondary level, where there is a shortage of the science and technology teachers who would prepare students for programmes such as engineering. This, too, is a matter for public policy.

However, there is another aspect to this discussion. Your editorial fails to take into account the fact that while the UWI, Mona, does not offer a degree in engineering, the Mona campus provides some of the skills and competencies that are required through programmes offered through our Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences. For example, programmes such as electronics, systems and control engineering, digital and electrical technology, are offered through the Department of Physics and in our Depar-tment of Chemistry, there are two divisions - applied chemistry and food chemistry - which offer elements of chemical enginee-ring and food processing.

Economic development

At another level, and responding to the reality, UWI Mona has been aggressively researching the sectors with the potential for development - sectors such as tourism and agriculture - and recommending to our government the appropriate policies that, if pursued, would trigger economic development. Against that background, the opening of the UWI, Mona, Western Jamaica Campus, makes eminent sense. As the pro vice chancellor and principal, Professor Gordon Shirley, has pointed out, there has been a significant increase in investment and job creation in the western end of the island.

These investments have occurred in a number of sectors, including hospitality and tourism, management-information systems and financial services (banking and finance). The health-care industry is the fastest-growing industry worldwide and is estimated to grow at 25 per cent per annum in the United States of America. There is a high demand for health-care workers, including doctors and nurses. These are precisely the areas of focus for the UWI, Mona, Western Jamaica Campus, as a direct response to the perceived demand and in keeping with the value that UWI continues to deliver to the society.

Importance of university education

It is gratifying to know, Sir, that your newspaper is doing its part to highlight the importance of university education to national development. Indeed, only recently in your annual Gleaner Awards ceremony, you named the UWI, Mona, as the institution that has made the greatest contribution to education in Jamaica.

However, the UWI cannot by itself deliver all the graduates that are required in every sector of the economy, nor would it be realistic for it to try to do so. Further, to suggest that since not enough graduates are being produced in one area of need is reason to reduce support to another area of need would, in the long run, merely lead to a shortage of gra-duates in those areas. Surely, this could not be the gravamen of your argument.

The UWI is willing to participate in this much-needed public debate on the importance of university education to national development; however, in outlining the various positions, it is important that the discussion be based on facts so that your readers can engage in the debate in a meaningful way.

I am, etc.,

CARROLL EDWARDS

Public Relations Officer

UWI, Mona