¦ Who is Fauzia Alkhairy?

My parents are from India, I was born in Saudi Arabia and now I am settled in the United States.

¦ And in the meantime you have been around the world…

Yes. After completing my 10th grade in Saudi Arabia, I went to the U.K for my Oand A- levels and then for my college education, I went to the United States where I got married, had three daughters and settled .

¦ What did you read in the United States?

My first degree was actually business administration from Boston University, and my second degree is in medicine from the Caribbean Medical School.

¦ And what brings you to our shores?

Mauritius is a thriving economy. It’s doing much better economically than all the other islands and I’ve heard that the Prime Minister wants to make Mauritius an education hub.

¦ Presumably you already had an idea about settling in Mauritius. How did you find out about Mauritius in the first place?

Well, I had been running a medical college for ten years in the Seychelles, which is very near to Mauritius. I came to Mauritius for the first time in 2002 to visit the American Embassy here. So I was familiar with it. The reason I wanted to come to Mauritius is because it has a very strategic geographical location.

It’s in the Indian Ocean and is part of Africa you see Asia on the one side and Africa on the other. So, we are right in the middle of two big parts of the world. What also drew me in was that this part of the world does not know much about U.S medical education.

¦ What should we know about American medical education?

That it’s a more global curriculum. It makes the student better rounded andknowledgeable by the time she/he graduates, rather than knowing one particular way of study as in other curricula that are more traditional. Education has changed as well as medical education.

¦ The reason behind your presence here is that you have grand projects for Mauritius. Exactly what is the gist of your project?

Well, since Mauritius also wants to become a hub of education, I have come with the intention of setting up a medical school in Mauritius with the help of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) , but since there were many delays and I wanted to open my doors to the students, I approached the Mauritius Qualifications Authority (MQA) to start some review courses both for HSC and medical students.

¦ Presumably while waiting for the grand project to be approved by the TEC?

Yes. Students leaving school would be taught the techniques and concepts of science so they could have better results in exams. This would also be useful for admission tests to medical school. We also review the basic sciences taught in medical colleges. If a student wants to settle and practice medicine in the U.S, for example, it will prepare him to study for the United States Medical Licensing Examination, which is the hardest medical screening test in the world. So it will make it easier for students to tackle those types of exams.

¦ I am more interested in the medical school you are about to set up. At what stage are you?

Everything is ready. We already have a multi-storey building and we have our entire teaching faculty.

¦ Where do your lecturers come from?

They are all medical doctors and specialists from India trained in teaching the American Medical Curriculum because Mauritian doctors were difficult to get.

¦ How much are you intending to invest in this country?

We have already invested US $500,000 and we have just started by renting the building, appointing the lecturers, getting architects to do the interior of the building, the IT etc. Once we get TEC approval that will take us into a couple of million dollars.

¦ You have this money you are waiting to invest here and all you need is TEC approval?

Yes. TEC approval for the medical college.

¦ Is this medical school you are planning to set up going to be affiliated to any university?

The University of Guyana has already approached us and they are ready to become our awarding body.

¦ Is the University of Guyana recognized by any other body? Suppose our students take medical courses, where would they be able to practice?

Everywhere in the world, because this is an old, university established in South America since 1969. The students graduating from there are able to practice medicine anywhere in the world.

¦ When were you planning to start this medical university in Mauritius?

I came here and met the TEC in February2010 and I was hoping to start in January 2011. All I am waiting for is the TEC approval. I’ve already got my lecturers and 100 international students I have been able to attract to Mauritius.

¦ Which countries do these students come from?

From the U.S, Canada, Nigeria, Tanzania, Pakistan, Uganda, Thailand, Seychelles, South Africa, Kenya, and India

¦ You mean students from the U.S and Canada are also coming to learn medicine here?

Yes.

¦ Why don’t they study medicine in their own countries?

Medical education in the US is very expensive and the medical colleges have very strict admission policies. Some of the students would like to change the place where they are, some would like to learn tropical medicine in Africa. U.S medicine is very advanced technologically, but the kind of hands-on experience students get in a developing country, they won’t get anywhere else.

¦ What kind of experience would they not get in North America?

First of all, many diseases that exist are only studied in books. Let me give you the example of tuberculosis or leprosy. Their knowledge of these is bookish. They know everything about the diagnosis, treatment and management but they’ve never seen those diseases because they are no longer prevalent there.

¦ But even here, where would they find a patient with leprosy?

Well, the idea of the medical education that I offer is that students will have the possibility of doing the first two years of their programme, which is the pre-clinical part, here and the third and fourth year they can go to any of our affiliated hospitals in the world.

They can go to Africa to learn tropical medicine, they can go to India to learn about infectious diseases, they can go to the U.K. to learn how a national healthcare system operates and they can go to the U.S to learn the latest in surgical technology. That’s what globalization of medicine means. Not sitting in one place and learning everything the way it was taught in the past

¦ So what you are offering here will only be the first two years?

Students can do all four years here or they can do half of the course here and the remaining half somewhere else.

¦ Those of us who send our kids to places like the U.S and Canada to study medicine have got it all wrong?

Those who don’t understand medicine think that the best is available there. The best can be available here in Mauritius in terms of learning the pre-clinical or the theory part and then for the clinical training you have the option of going to all of these places to learn how medicine is done in different parts of the world. That is what makes you an all round doctor when you graduate. You also minimize the cost.

¦ How much will you charge?

$10,000.00 per year for five years which includes the pre-medical studies. In comparison, you will pay between $50,000 and $150,000 a year in the U.S. for four years

¦ Do you offer accommodation?

Yes, throughout the semester. Our hall of residence is already set up. All done – just waiting for the students.

¦ You said you had 100 students from abroad. How many are you going to recruit in Mauritius? Have you done any feasibility study about how many students will be interested?

Around 10 000 students receive their Higher School Certificate each year. Even if 0.5% of the 10,000 come to us, that will be good enough to start with.

¦ What number of students will make your school feasible?

100 students will be a good start.

¦ What kind of equipment do you need for the first two years?

We have everything we need: models, software, medicine now is very much a part of the virtual reality process, instruments, posters, power point projections, DVDs, books, a wonderful library that can accommodate 100 students at a time.

¦ Presumably, if you have all of this and the TEC is dragging its feet, it must have some reason. What’s the reason according to you?

I really do not understand. For me, if the idea is to make Mauritius an educational hub and bring in international students, this is exactly what I want to do. I don’t want land, I don’t want a building, I’m coming with everything, all the latest technology and teaching aids. All I need is authorization. Why they would take this long for such a thing, I have no idea. One of the reasons I think is because the TEC is so based on the traditional medical system that to think outside this system is so difficult.

¦ What do you mean?

The traditional system is the old method of teaching rote memorization, a four –five year course, with one year’s internship.

According to them you can’t do two years here and the rest someplace else. Everything should be taught in one place at a government hospital, whether the consultants have time to teach students or not. They will not accept private clinics, also things like the hospital has to be less than five km from the campus. All these things come from an old traditional way of teaching.

¦ Isn’t it the same in the U.S?

No! It’s very, very different. In the good schools, you can do two years in the US and the last two years somewhere else. Students come to places like this to do their last year because they want to learn about tropical medicine so they don’t even complete their education in the U.S.

¦ My understanding of the TEC is that their main worry is the recognition of the degree by foreign universities. Have you sorted that out?

As long as the awarding body is recognized, and so is our affiliation with them, the degree will be recognized.

¦ But as Mauritians, we don’t know about Guyana.

We have a letter of intent from them, and I wouldn’t have accepted their offer without doing some investigating myself. The TEC also have to do their own investigations to find out whether Mauritian students pursuing their studies here will be able to practice the world over.

¦ The medical students who come out of Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (SSR) medical school can’t practice in foreign countries, can they?

No. The awarding body for SSR is the University of Mauritius. The UOM is listed with different international bodies as a recognized and accredited University. If the UOM is not recognized by bodies around the world, those students coming out of the SSR, carrying the university of Mauritius degree will not be able to practice medicine outside of Mauritius.

¦ With the degree you are offering them, they can, can’t they?

Yes.

¦ But I can’t understand why the TEC would refuse to give you accreditation…

I have no idea. I’ve been trying to get a government hospital affiliation, because that’s a requirement, but most government hospital affiliations are booked by colleges that are not even here yet. Here I am in the country, with everything I need, but I can’t get a government hospital because they are already booked by institutions not here yet. I went to the City Clinic to get an affiliation, and they were more than happy to be associated with us, but that is a private clinic, so now they say that it is not sufficiently specialized and so forth. Well, I replied that as far as undergraduate studies are concerned, City Clinic is more than adequate.

But they say that City Clinic does not have enough beds. They have 75 beds and, according to TEC regulations, you need 5 beds per student. So I need to find other hospitals, so I wrote to the Ministry of Health requesting availability of government hospitals, but so far I got nothing from them.

¦ So what is blocking you is the hospital affiliation, not the accreditation?

To be honest, I don’t know what is blocking me. I have not heard any plausible explanation from the TEC.

¦ In the meantime, you have costs, don’t you?

Yes.

¦ What kind of costs are we talking about here?

On a monthly basis, about $100,000 per month..

¦ And all your lecturers are just sitting there and waiting?

Yes.

¦ Have you explained this to the TEC?

I have explained everything.

¦ And what did they say? Surely they cannot be insensitive to that?

Every time I go there, there is some new piece of information they want. They are looking at it, they are thinking, they are studying, the board is meeting, they have to bring it in front of the board…you know, its just delay after delay after delay. When somebody in their place should have grabbed the opportunity, because that’s what the government says it wants for the country! Rather than giving approvals to yet another Indian college, bring in something that’s international which will bring something new to the country. Another problem is that I have yet to meet a physician in the TEC who understands medical education

¦ Have you tried contacting the minister of health?

I have met the permanent secretary. I am still waiting for a response.

¦ When was this?

That was about two weeks ago.

¦ You had a similar school in the Seychelles didn’t you? How did that work out?

It started ten years ago under the charter of the president of the Seychelles, signed by the ministers of education and health.

¦ Where are the doctors you produced working now?

All over the world including the U.S. We produced 2 batches, about 73 graduates so far who passed the Medical Licensing Exams in the U.S with flying colours at the first go. As a matter of fact, we are among the only two universities outside the U.S that train students for taking the U.S Medical Licensing Exams where we have a 90% pass rate at the first attempt.

¦ You presumably have the track record of all these students, don’t you?

I have presented the TEC with all the results, the results from the U.S medical licensing exams, screening tests of the medical council of India Where we have a pass rate of over 90% at the first attempt. A pass rate like that must give credibility to any medical school. Unfortunately, at the TEC, the people who are looking at these results are not medical doctors. You need a person in the medical fi eld to understand the value of these things. Furthermore, we have the permanent accreditation from the American Academy of Continuing Medical Education, a medical education body designed to encourage practicing physicians to continuously upgrade their knowledge of the latest discoveries, invention and technologies in medicine. This itself is so valuable to raise the health care
 standards of any country. We would be the only providers of such courses in the region.

¦ One of your students in the USAIM Seychelles- is the granddaughter of the President of India, isn’t that a reference?

Yes, the grand daughter has since graduated, passed her medical council of India screening test and she is currently doing her one year internship in India.

¦ Is your school here a branch of the USAIM-Seychelles or is it a brand new school?

It’s a brand new company called USAIM LTD but the teaching faculty came with us.

¦ And you’re only interested in islands it seems. From the Seychelles to Mauritius and to the Comoros maybe?

Well, what I set up in the Seychelles was the same kind of model as in the Caribbean.

In the United States, its very difficult to get admission in the medical college and also very expensive. This is how they control demand and supply, and this is how when the medical graduates come out, they demand a high salary.

But that does not mean that students that do not pass from there are not going to be good doctors. Some American entrepreneurs went to the Caribbean Islands because there bureaucracy is less, and set up schools that would give a second chance to those students who could not get into the United States medical colleges, and they became very popular.

Some of those Caribbean Islands really do produce medical students better than some from the American colleges.

¦ So what are you doing in the meantime with your school?

Just waiting for the MQA and TEC approvals to come. I’m ready, I have my teachers, my infrastructure, my staff, my track record and my results for the last ten years, my students already recruited. They’re all waiting.

¦ What is your next step?

I have been waiting very patiently, listening to all the delaying excuses for the past one year. I will reveal my next step in due course.

TOURIA PRAYAG