St Kitts and Nevis: Four medical students join JNF Hospital under Summer Observership Programme

St Kitts and Nevis: Four medical students, who are currently studying at the University of Havana in Cuba, are working as student doctors at the Joseph N. France (JNF) General Hospital this summer. This initiative is part of the government’s annual Summer Observership Employment Programme.

The 13-year-old Summer Observership Employment Programme was introduced to help familiarize students with the healthcare system of St Kitts and Nevis. The Government of the twin island nation introduced it for educating and imparting the required skills in the students.

Programme details and eligibility structure

At the start of their third year of study or beyond, students can apply for this programme. They return home at their own expense and work as student doctors. They are usually paid through the Skills Training Empowerment Programme (STEP).

The four students are working under the guidance of Dr Babu Chinnaswamy - an Internist at JNF General Hospital. They will rotate through various departments which include Medicine, Surgery, Maternity, and Pediatrics and will work at the hospital from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. In the morning, they are in their assigned departments and afternoons in the Emergency Room.

“All four will be rotated through various departments, with the schedules for rotation indicated in the Medicine, Surgery, Maternity, and Pediatrics Departments,” said Director of Health Institutions within the Ministry of Health, Dr Jenson Morton.

Two out of the students, Yaruska Irish from Conaree Village and Rashumba Gilbert from Lodge are in their fifth year of medical school. They started on July 14. Irish will work in the hospital for five weeks and Gilbert for seven weeks. Also, it is noted that both of them had worked at the hospital before and did not require orientation.

The other two students are from Dieppe Bay - Kaedida Fough and from Dolicia Barry, who are in their third year of medical school. They started on July 28 and each will be at the hospital for five weeks. This is the first time they are working at JNF General Hospital and received their orientation on the first day.

Rotation schedule and student experiences

Each student has a rotation schedule. Irish will do Medicine, Surgery, and Maternity, while Gilbert will rotate through Surgery, Medicine, Pediatrics, and Maternity. Fough will do Maternity, Surgery, and Medicine and Barry will work in Pediatrics, Medicine, and Surgery.

Notably, Barry shared that her decision to go into medicine was a result of her own illness as a child and the care which she received from her pediatrician, the late Dr Ian Jacobs. 

“I chose to do medicine for a bunch of reasons, one of the reasons for sure is that when I was young, I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis and my pediatrician at the time was the late Dr Ian Jacobs, who I certainly admired for his work ethic and his love for children,” she said.