Today Newspaper St. Maarten

The initiative by Senator Durbin to introduce the Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act (FMSAFA), which would impose ‘some’ restrictions on Caribbean medical schools (at least four offshore schools) is laudable. The nearly half a billion dollars these schools secure from the government (via U.S. D.O.E. Title IV) does not even take into consideration the indirect federal funding that students get from online degree programs at universities these Caribbean schools have partnered with.

As a student, I was never against Caribbean medicine per se. At the end of the day, people like me are trying to become doctors and everything comes with a price. It is a cash cycle that you will see everywhere, for example, Medicare and Medicaid are just government bank accounts for physicians to get reimbursed.

But offshore schools are more than just cash cows and are emblematic of The American Way. My own experience in the Caribbean was very difficult and so I have to remind myself that I did not have the credentials to get into a U.S. medical school, yet I can ‘still’ become a doctor because it is America.

Hopefully, the FMSAFA will also shed light onto the future of Caribbean medical schools. As fast as these proprietorships and corporations sprung up on these islands like an erupting volcano spawning a new land mass, they may quickly become dormant once the student loan restrictions are in place.

Mahesh Yaragatti

A reader writes: Offshore medical schools by admin