New Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland-Medical University of Bahrain campus to open on 3rd February

RCSI-Bahrain offers students of the university a new campus fully equipped with the latest in medical learning facilities. This includes a state-of-the-art skills lab, an electronic database, digital resources, wireless connectivity to facilitate e-learning and a sports centre.

The opening of the new campus marks the success RCSI has had in establishing medical colleges and providing internationally recognized medical and nursing programs across the Middle East. Since 2005 RCSI has run a postgraduate training facility in Dubai Health City to help train future medical practitioners.

RCSI also provides training and education to institutions in Kuwait and Jordan, and is currently in discussions with a University in Saudi Arabia to re-commence its 25 year association of medical training in the Kingdom.

RCSI-Bahrain's architecture is symbolic of its ambition to build on this success, with Celtic and Islamic motifs and drawings from the history of the two cultures being incorporated into the design of the building. Comprised of two main areas, the building is connected by bridges and galleries.

A constituent university of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI-Bahrain has a capacity of 2,000 students and aims to provide healthcare education and training to world standards for students from Bahrain, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. It also offers those students from the Middle East a learning environment in which they will practice as healthcare professionals.

The university now has 540 undergraduate students, all studying for either general medical qualifications or nursing degrees. Approximately 40% of the student class studying to be doctors are Bahraini and another 40% are from GCC Countries. The remaining 20% of students are from Canada and a diverse number of countries around the world.

The President of RCSI-Bahrain, Professor Kevin O'Malley, commented, "In a short four years since RCSI-Bahrain's establishment in Bahrain our student numbers have risen from just 27 in 2004 to near 550 and are made up of over 30 different nationalities. Our medical student intake is now 120 per year. The new $65 million campus offers a state-of-the-art learning facility for medical and nursing students. RCSI-Bahrain offers a fantastic opportunity for prospective medical students to receive a world class medical education from some of the world's best medical professionals in one of the world's newest medical teaching facilities."

As a medical university, RCSI-Bahrain will work closely with Bahrain's Ministry of Health hospitals and the Bahrain Defence Force Royal Medical Services Hospital, enabling students to develop their skills further in a real life medical environment. In addition, a new hospital being built alongside the campus, the King Hamad General Hospital, will be a teaching hospital for the university after it opens next year.

Medical graduates of RCSI-Bahrain are awarded degrees of Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and the Bachelor of the Art of Obstetrics (MB, BCh, BAO). In addition, they will also receive Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and the Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

The Medical School has been accredited by the GCC Medical Schools Deans' Committee and is included in the World Health Organization, Directory of Medical Schools.

"Healthcare is fundamental to the future success of the GCC. The economic strategies that foresee GCC states diversifying their economies away from hydrocarbon revenues to more knowledge driven economies requires the foundation of a healthy population. With the healthcare market in Dubai alone set to grow by 14% in the next 5 years, medical teaching facilities such as RCSI-Bahrain are important elements in ensuring the continued growth of the medical sector in Bahrain and the GCC," concluded Professor O'Malley.