Board Clarifies Suspension of Funding for Medical Intakes
Funding for new intake from 2021 for MBBS, Oral Health, and Oral Health and Dental Surgery programmes have been suspended under the National Toppers Local Scholarship Scheme (NTS) and Tertiary Education Loans Scheme (TELS).
The Tertiary Scholar- ship and Loand Board, in a statement, said this was in line with the fiscal policy changes announced in the 2020/2021 National Budget. “The simple reason behind the suspension of these programmes is that we have now reached our nation’s full capacity for all such areas of expertise as well as qualified and trained doctors,” the board said. “Having fulfilled these important criteria, it was vital for the Fijian Government to review the priority areas for funding.”
Students who have completed Year 13 in 2020 are strongly encouraged to explore other priority areas within the scholarship categories.
For example, within the Medical and Health Category, scholarships are still available in nursing, physiotherapy, dietetics, public health, medical lab sciences, pharmacy and medical imaging science.
The suspended programmes were listed under the national priority areas of the Fijian Government since the inception of the NTS and TELS in 2014. They were included to ensure that Fiji had an adequate number of trained doctors, oral hygienists and dentists.
With the 2020 graduates joining the profession, Fiji now has enough trained and qualified doctors to meet the WHO benchmark. This has also been confirmed by Ministry of Health and Medical Services in a recent media announcement whereby clarification has been provided that there is no shortage of doctors in Fiji now.
By 2025, this benchmark would have been exceeded as there are currently 689 active students under NTS and TELS pursuing a qualification in MBBS, who are expected to graduate and join the medical profession by 2025.
Since 2014, the Fijian Government has been allocating adequate funding for the purpose of training doctors, oral hygienists and dentists to meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) requirements for the doctor patient ratio. Since the inception of the new merit-based NTS and TELS, the board has funded 934 students for the MBBS programme and 202 students for the Bachelor of Oral Health and Bachelor of Oral Health and Dental Surgery, combined under these schemes.
Between 2014 and 2020, 144 students have already graduated in MBBS, 31 with Bachelor of Oral Health and another 72 with Bachelor of Oral Health and Dental Surgery.
It is important to note that a number of students who have completed their three-year Bachelor of Oral Health Programme have opted to upgrade their qualification to the five-year Bachelor of Oral Health and Dental Surgery and this is also funded by the board. In addition, six Fijians have completed their MBBS programme under the bilateral donor funded scholarship in Cuba and have returned to Fiji at the end of 2020.
It is important to note that apart from around 1000 graduate doctors now in Fiji as at the end of end of 2020, more than 100 new TSLBfunded graduates will join the profession from 2021 to 2025 annually.
This is in addition to the privately funded students joining the services. Tertiary Scholarship
Loans Board and