Media Release

Ajman, UAE, Nov 11: His Excellency Dr. Ali Shakar, Under Secretary, Ministry of Health UAE inaugurated the Workshop & Conference on Hospital Based Clinical Training on Saturday, the 11th of November 2006 at Gulf Medical College in Ajman. The conference is organized by The Medical Education Unit at Gulf Medical College Ajman. Over 100 delegates attended the conference.

In his inaugural address Dr. Ali Shakar stressed on the priorities laid by the Ministry on enhancing medical education and training in the country. He mentioned that both private and government institutions must join hands to promote healthcare services in the country. He lauded the efforts of Gulf Medical College in medical education. He invited the college to play a bigger role in enhancing the quality of services and and offered ministry’s help in making joint efforts in this direction. Dr. Ali Shakar said that a higher committee is formed at the ministry to look into the issue of closer cooperation between private and government institutions.

In his welcome address, Prof. S. Rangaswami, Dean of Gulf Medical College Ajman mentioned that the aim of this conference is to focus on the key areas related to medical education. The conference is designed for medical and other health professions’ educators and it will be of specific interest for those who are actively involved in training and assessing students in healthcare professions. We feel that this is an important area as several exciting new ideas in medical education have evolved over the last few years, he said.

Later His Excellency Dr. Abdul Gaffar Abdul Gafoor, Asst. Under secretary Ministry of Health released the new issue of the HEALTH magazine published by the college. Prof. Hossam Hamdy, Vice Chancellor of Medical Schools, University of Sharjah, ministry officials and delegates from various institutions and colleges attended the conference.

Prof. Raja C. Bandaranayake an international authority on Medical Education, from Sydney Australia, consultant and visiting professor of Medical Education to Gulf Medical College Ajman conducted the workshops during the conference. The presentations included Clinical Competencies, A taxonomy of clinical learning, Teaching/learning methods in the clinical setting and Assessment of clinical competence. The workshops will highlight Task analysis, Application of the taxonomy to a clinical competency, Identifying logistic problems in implementing clinical teaching and Determining assessment methods for a clinical competency.

The conference is reviewed and accredited by the Ministry of Health UAE and the participants will be awarded 4.5 CME hours.