Caymanian students abroad who are training to be doctors are encouraged to get in touch with the Cayman Islands Health Services Authority (HSA), to ensure the HSA is able to appropriately prepare for their return to Cayman to practice medicine.

Very involved with the development of Caymanian trainee doctors, the HSA has a robust internship programme which offers paid and unpaid work experience for medical students over the summer and Christmas university breaks, enabling them to gain valuable experience shadowing consultants throughout the Cayman Islands hospital.

Making the connection with soon-to-be Caymanian doctors as early as possible is very important to the HSA, as Lizzette Yearwood, Chief Executive Officer of the Health Services Authority, explained:

“The Cayman Islands Health Services Authority is committed to recruiting as many Caymanian doctors and medical staff as possible. Our student internship programme is an extremely useful way for us to develop a relationship with students which will hopefully last all the way through their studies and eventually result in them wishing to come back to the Cayman Islands and to work with us at the HSA,” she said. “We want all Caymanian students to feel a part of the HSA and we welcome them all.”

Dr Delroy Jefferson, Medical Director at the HSA, said that any medical students overseas planning a career in medicine when they return home in the Cayman Islands should get in touch.

“We are keen to get to know all students who are currently in school, wherever they are studying around the world, and we would like to know when they are planning to return back to Cayman for their professional career. This will allow us to anticipate and plan for the students’ return. If we can plan to expect a new doctor to return during a certain time, we can also plan and possibly help create more job opportunities for those newly qualified doctors and medical professionals,” Dr Jefferson said. “The more individuals we are aware of, the easier it should be for us to accommodate them, should they choose a career with the Health Services Authority.”

“One of the benefits when making contact with the office of the Medical Director is that this facilitates dialogue; the returning physician could gain insightful information as to the clinical fields with the most pressing needs,” Dr Jefferson said.

Any student wishing to participate in the HSA’s internship programme or those students who are in school and planning to return are encouraged to complete the online form in the Student Registration section of our website www.hsa.ky.