Derry is to open Northern Ireland’s second medical training school next year.
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill confirmed the graduate medical school at Ulster University’s Magee campus will open in September 2021.
She said: “It will be instrumental in the regeneration of the region. This is a hugely important investment decision for the north west, and it adds to the executive’s recent announcement on the Derry and Strabane City Deal and inclusive future fund.
A total of 70 students will be admitted in the first year.
BMA’s NI chairman Dr Tom Black, said: “This new school will mean more medical students graduating annually in Northern Ireland and then staying on, not only to treat our growing and aging population but to support our health service should such a pandemic like this ever happen again.
“The Covid-19 pandemic brought the chronic medical staffing gaps in our health service into sharp focus, as the enlisting of retired doctors and early graduation of final year medical students showed.”
A new school of medicine has been in the planning phase for years and in 2016 Ulster University lodged plans for the school and applied to the General Medical Council to train doctors in the north west.
However funding and other glitches delayed the start of the ambitious programme that is expected to cost the best part of £100 million.
Dr Malachy Ó Néill, Provost for Magee Campus, said last year he was “100% confident” Magee Medical College would be opened in 2021 if an executive was formed.
The deadline for student recruitment for 2021 was described as “absolutely achievable” and he added: “Everything is in place. Let’s just get on with it.”
Now Derry native, SDLP leader and Foyle MP, Colum Eastwood says he wants to drill down into the detail.
He said: “We need a guarantee from the executive and from Ulster University that the first students will enrol starting in September 2021 and we need to see a plan for university expansion beyond that. The medical school is the first step, not the end product.”
