The Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Millennium Projects
Author - Gordon Williams
In the Summer 2007 issue of News File there was a request to hear about projects to mark the Millennium. I would like to let readers know that I will be leaving the UK permanently to become Dean of a new medical school in Addis Ababa which will be known as the St Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical School in Addis Ababa. This is a brand new school with the remit to train doctors fit for purpose in Ethiopia. To that end I will be recruiting at least 30% of the student intake from the poorest parts of Ethiopia such as Afar, Gambella southern regions and Somalia. In addition at least 30% of the intake will be women.
We have done away with the traditional method of selection (taking the top 500 in the end of school leaving exam and making them do medicine). Our posts will be by competition using a structured application form and a structured interview and on the panel there will be one lay member, one medical student and one doctor; at least one of whom will be female.
In view of an absence of training faculty throughout Ethiopia, students will be responsible in the large part for educating themselves with the assistance of overseas trainers and long-distance courses. To that end I have already spent around 2 million birr of money raised in the UK for the purchase of computers, books, mannequins and equipment for teaching surgical skills.