Guyana's oil boom has transformed the economy dramatically, is that opening new funding and infrastructure for the UG medical school, and are students starting to see a tangible difference in facilities and hospital resources?

University of Guyana
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Guyana has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world following the massive offshore oil discoveries, and a lot of us have been wondering what that means for medical education there. Is the University of Guyana medical school seeing new funding, upgraded facilities, or better clinical placements? Are hospitals getting better resourced? If anyone is currently enrolled or has recent firsthand experience, we would love to hear what’s actually happening on the ground versus what the government is promising. This thread is open for students, alumni, and anyone following UG med closely.

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honestly i’ve been asking myself this exact question since i enrolled. like yes you hear about oil money constantly on the news and the government loves to talk about transformation but when you’re actually sitting in a lecture hall with broken AC and outdated anatomy models it really doesn’t feel like any of that money made it here lol. maybe it’s still early days but i expected at least something visible by now

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same boat owenmurphy. i think the issue is the oil revenue is being funneled into infrastructure and the broader economy first. education especially medical education seems like it’s lower on the priority list for now. i heard they announced something about a new simulation lab but nobody i know has actually seen it built yet so take that with a grain of salt

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i graduated from UG med in 2022 so i can only speak to what it was like back then but i can tell you the clinical training at GPHC was genuinely difficult because of resource shortages. limited reagents, old imaging equipment, beds that were always overcrowded. i follow a few people still in the program and from what they tell me things have improved slightly at the hospital but nothing dramatic. would love to hear from current students though

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current student here, year 4th. I’d say the hospital situation is a very mixed bag. Some wards have gotten new equipment for sure, there’s better ultrasound availability than what seniors have told me existed before. but other areas like pathology lab access and some of the surgical theatres still feel very understaffed and underfunded. it’s like they patched certain areas without addressing the bigger picture