Divine Word University to open medical school

PAPUA New Guinea’s second medical school at the Divine Word University (DWU) which is focused on the rural areas will begin classes at the Madang campus next month.
The DWU has selected 30 pioneer students to start the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme this year.
The university posted the names of the selected students for the MBBS programme plus those of other existing programmes on its website (www.dwu.ac.pg). The MBBS programme in DWU is being administrated by the newly created Department of Medicine within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
The department is headed by Prof Brother Jerzy Kuzma, a surgeon and a Catholic missionary from the Society of the Divine Word (SVD).
Kuzma has worked in provincial and rural health facilities in Chimbu, Madang and other parts of PNG and has been teaching in DWU for over a decade. DWU decided to offer the MBBS programme specifically targeted at training doctors for the rural areas where health service delivery suffers from a chronic lack of doctors.
The MBBS programme will run alongside DWU’s existing programmes such as Bachelor of Rural Health (formerly Diploma in Health Extension), Bachelor of Environmental Health (formerly Health Inspector), Bachelor of Physiotherapy, Advanced Diploma in Eye Care and Bachelor of Management.