OFFICIALS AT BRIDGETOWN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY INSISTS IT’S LEGITIMATE DESPITE SCRUTINY
By Sheria Brathwaite
The management of the Bridgetown International University (BIU) is defending the integrity of the medical school amid questions about its operations and accreditation status.
Dean Dr Marshall Montrose and administration manager Anudeep Bapatu have insisted the school is legitimate, even as sources close to the institution called on the relevant authorities to look into its operations.
An online blog posted on Tuesday by someone claiming to be a student of the Chelsea House, Chelsea Road, St Michael school of medicine raised concerns about the offshore medical university’s lack of transparency.
But Montrose and Bapatu said everything at the school, which was established in 2016, was above board.
“It’s a young school so we are working towards accreditation, which is just a standard thing that will happen at the stage of many young schools. There is nothing weird there or towards being illegitimate. As far as I know, everything is lined up correctly,” Montrose said.
Regarding accreditation, he said the school had been in contact with the Jamaica-based Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP) and submitted an application to the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) in the United States in April 2022.
“We have been in communication with them [CAAM-HP] about our application. Our application is being done now. We already applied to another agency [the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating (IAAR)], had a site visit, and are waiting to hear back from them but they haven’t sent us anything yet. We have an application into ECFMG for the first stage of what they can do for us, which is called a sponsor note. They just got back to us two weeks ago for additional pieces of information and so we are working to supply that to them,” Montrose said.
The ECFMG is the authorised credential evaluation and guidance agency for non-US physicians and graduates of non-US medical schools who want to practise in the US or apply for a US medical residency programme, according to the US Department of Education.
The IAAR, according to its website, promotes accredited management system certification through its member-driven association that represents and advances accredited third-party systems certification and enhances credibility for all interested parties.
Montrose said an application was made to them in the summer of 2022.
Representatives from that agency visited the school in February this year, Montrose said.
When contacted, Lorna Parkins, executive director of the CAAM-HP would neither confirm nor deny that an application was submitted to the agency, saying only that the BIU “had contacted CAAM-HP”.
However, she added: “We have never received any complaints from the students or general public about that school. I was aware that that school was operating in Barbados but to be able to operate within that jurisdiction they would need to have been issued a charter by a government body and would have been registered by the BAC [Barbados Accreditation Council] . . . .”
Repeated efforts to get a comment from the executive director of the BAC Lisa Gale were unsuccessful.
When a Barbados TODAY team visited the school, Montrose insisted the school “is registered with the BAC so we are fully authorised to operate”.
The BIU has a certificate of registration from the BAC dating back to February 25, 2022.
Montrose said medical school classes started in February 2020, although the university’s website indicates that the institution was established four years prior.
The author of the blog claimed that because the school was not accredited by CAAM-HP or ECFMG, the degrees received would not be valid in India where the school’s population of about 50-55 come from.
Meanwhile, a source told Barbados TODAY that students were concerned about the recent death of a student at the school’s residential facility in Long Bay, St Philip.
Montrose and Bapatu confirmed that an incident took place on Easter Monday and the student passed away on Sunday, April 16.
“We are working to get the body back to the family and it is still a work in progress in getting the family what they need so we don’t want this to be a negative for them,” said Montrose.
“Everyone is very upset and shocked. Students and staff, we’ve all had conversations with counsellors and local psychiatrists just to help everyone work through [this] since it’s quite a shock . . . .”
When contacted on Tuesday, police public affairs and communications officer Inspector Rodney Inniss said he had to look into the matter before commenting.
On Thursday, he confirmed to Barbados TODAY that lawmen were carrying out an investigation into the matter, adding that an autopsy would be done to determine the cause of death.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
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