The first batch of medical students from the country’s first national medical college, Qatar University (QU) College of Medicine, has been selected to join Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) medical residency training.

A group of 42 of the best medical graduates, who successfully completed the requirements of a six-year undergraduate medical program at QU, join HMC to complete their postgraduate medical residency training.

The training is part of the educational journey of graduating doctors to become highly specialized and independent medical practitioners.

Dean of the College of Medicine at QU, Prof Dr Egon Toft, underlined that this first group of graduate doctors is a significant achievement for the country, Qatar University and for everyone who played a role in the establishment and growth of one of the region’s foremost medical education providers.

“We are committed to building within Qatar University an outstanding medical college, set to equip our students with the right competencies to graduate qualified physicians empowered with the knowledge, skills and personalities that will enable them to transform the future of healthcare in Qatar,” Prof Toft commented.

“Our program is rooted in the specific needs of the Qatari society and well-aligned with national strategies and priorities in healthcare education. Our College is driven by passionate dedicated faculty, including many expert clinical faculty from HMC, which helps attract promising and highly competitive students,” he added.

While physicians in medical school gain wide-ranging medical knowledge, basic clinical skills, and supervised experience, when it comes to practicing medicine, a medical residency offers in-depth training within a specific area of medicine.

It is therefore essential to have a highly established clinical facility to provide accredited clinical teaching opportunities for the training period of between four and six years where Residents can specialize in a medical or surgical specialty.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of Medical Education at HMC, Dr Abdullatif Al-Khal, explained that as an accredited teaching institution, HMC has a well-established position in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

First cohort of Qatar University Medical Graduates join HMC Medical Residency Program .https://t.co/t7nGmcQyFm pic.twitter.com/rMgrnSRAq3

— مؤسسة حمد الطبية (@HMC_Qatar) August 9, 2021

The institution is highly suited for medical graduates from QU and Cornell to complete their residency and fellowship training.

“We are proud to welcome the inaugural graduating class to HMC. The selected students are already very familiar with our clinical sites as they have been undertaking clinical clerkship rotations in various facilities from the fourth year of medical school and will therefore help contribute to patient care early on,” said Dr Al-Khal.

“These graduates and future cohorts will become the backbone of Qatar’s healthcare delivery system, as part of a locally-developed and trained clinical workforce, equipped to deal with Qatar’s future healthcare needs.”

The process for admission to HMC’s residency programs is highly competitive. Almost 1,300 applications ar received each year for approximately 170 available seats.

The QU graduates met the same rigorous enrollment criteria similar to top international applicants, which includes exceptional performance on the internationally standardized clinical knowledge exam.

“We are also delighted to have collaborated with the College of Medicine to help encourage more home-grown talents to take up medicine. While the medical graduates represent 10 different nationalities, one-third are Qatari Nationals; and female students made up nearly 67% of all graduates, indicating the strong interest in medicine among female students,” Dr Al-Khal added.

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Cover Image Credit and Source: HMC