UHSA President denies Cabinet’s claim that it has closed and says the pandemic pushed its programs online and offshore
The University of Health Sciences Antigua (UHSA) is refuting claims made by the Cabinet last week that it has closed its operations.
The Executive reported, last Thursday, that Government is seeking to acquire the Dow Hill, Piccadilly, property that was leased to the University several decades ago.
The Cabinet Notes claimed that the medical school is defunct and said that plans to have the property returned to the Crown were discussed with an attorney from the Solicitor General’s Office.
However, in a statement on the matter, Dr. Adedayo Akande, President of the University, says the Cabinet’s claim is false. He says that UHSA has been in existence since 1982 and has never stopped instructing students.
When the COVID-19 outbreak began in 2020, the medical students returned to their countries, Dr. Akande says, and therefore the University moved campus functions online, as was done by universities worldwide.
He says that distance learning has continued and is well documented on the University’s website, with the governing bodies being aware. In fact, he notes that UHSA’s 2021 graduation ceremony was also broadcast virtually and can be viewed online.
Dr. Akande adds that clinical students have continued their education at partner hospitals throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.
In the meantime, renovations at the Dow Hill facility were going on for the past two years and completed in preparation for the return of face-to-face learning.
Dr. Akande says that renovation work on the library also commenced and will be completed next month.
According to the president, the University has also continued its community contributions, including the donation of a piano to the Clare Hall Secondary School and library shelving and storage to the National Archives and the National Public Library.
The institution says that as Antigua’s oldest medical university, it will continue supporting the community as it has always done throughout its 40-year history.
