THE newly commissioned $930 million Tuschen Secondary School will not only serve 800 secondary students but will also transform into a branch of the University of Guyana’s College of Medical Sciences (CMS) in the evenings, providing aspiring health professionals in Region Three with access to training closer to home.

The announcement was made on Wednesday by President Dr. Irfaan Ali during the commissioning of the state-of-the-art facility at Tuschen, Essequibo Islands–West Demerara.
The President explained that the UG medical branch will offer over 17 programmes in medicine and allied health sciences, giving residents from across the Essequibo and Demerara rivers, and as far as Leguan,

Wakenaam, Liberty and Hogg Island, the opportunity to pursue tertiary medical studies without having to travel to Georgetown.
Students enrolled under the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarships will also be accommodated at the new Tuschen facility in the evenings.
“We are careful planners. When we spoke about second jobs and giving tax breaks for second jobs, the senior doctors working at the hospital, senior nurses, and technicians here in Region Three will now have their tax incentive in their second job, lecturing at the College of Medical Sciences,” President Ali said.

The President pointed out that UG has faced overwhelming demand for medical studies, noting that 206 students from Region Three applied this year, but only 86 were accepted at the Turkeyen campus due to space limitations.

The new Tuschen branch will absorb the remainder by year’s end.
“Whether you are from Leguan, Wakenaam, Liberty, Hogg Island, anywhere in the Essequibo River, anywhere in the Demerara River on the West Bank or West Coast, Region Three—you will have your own medical college. “Your children will become pharmacists, doctors, medical technologists, nurses, everything in the medical field, studying right here on this soil of Region Three,” Dr. Ali said.

This development comes on the heels of Dr. Ali’s recent announcement that the existing West Demerara Regional Hospital, which is more than 75 years old, will be repurposed into a teaching institution once the new $11.4 billion modern hospital is completed.