Bangkok--3 Mar--Sphere Commm
Dr. Pornchai Mongkhonvanit, President of Siam University, said “With the university’s commitment to the quality education management and production of high-quality personnel to serve Thai society for over 40 years, we have been consciously aware of our educational responsibilities over the years. The university’s foundation was developed from the fields of scientific and technological development.
Subsequently, after our physical resources and personnel were ready, we expanded the administrative scope of our educational programs towards the field of health sciences, and we have been successful with the nursing programs offered at the Faculty of Nursing, which has been opened for over 18 years. Up to now, around 1,000 nursing graduates have been produced to work as registered nurses. Presently, the university is offering a pharmacology program which requires six years to complete. The objective is to ensure that our teaching and learning programs are beneficial to and aligned with social needs. Every program offered by the university is accredited by a professional association.”
In 2013 academic year, Siam University proudly presents a brand new program, an undergraduate doctoral program accredited by the Medical Council of Thailand, which granted a permission to open for enrollments. Siam University is considered the second private university that obtained permission to administer a teaching and learning program to churn out medical graduates.
Regarding the initiation of teaching and learning at the Faculty of Medicine, Siam University discerns that doctors are indispensable personnel, and presently Thailand is facing shortage of doctors. Therefore, the university has prepared the opening of the Faculty of Medicine for quite some time. Moreover, we have gained cooperation from the Police General Hospital which graciously accepted the role of a core institution in order to jointly churn out medical graduates from the Faculty of Medicine of Siam University, who will be fully qualified and skillful in specialized fields, whereby every intern receives clinical training at the Police General Hospital and community hospitals in its network. After graduation, graduates can promptly work at urban and community-level hospitals.
Moreover, the university also envisions a plan to accommodate Thailand’s entry into the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Thus, students of every faculty, including the Faculty of Medicine’s students, must prepare themselves by gaining knowledge and understanding about the Asean and gaining their experience from different courses, especially “Asean in the Modern World.” This particular course will be jointly taught by university lecturers and experienced lecturers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and various agencies who are knowledgeable about the Asean.
Furthermore, students can also choose to take various Asean language courses, such as Bahasa Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, and Burmese. However, since English is considered a universal language, the university offers intensive educational programs and gauges English proficiency by using internationally accepted standardized examinations like TOEFL. Therefore, medical students are required to learn general fundamental knowledge in connection with the emergence of the Asean before learning about medicine, which will be reinforced with study tours of public health systems in various Asean countries.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Jongjate Aojanepong, surgeon-general (CEO) of the Police General Hospital under the Royal Thai Police, and the 2nd Vice President of The Medical Council of Thailand, added “The utmost aim is to churn out doctors to take care of Thai people first, ensuring that Thai people will have good health and physical well-being. This is the most important goal because Thailand still needs more doctors in rural areas. The Police General Hospital’s approach is to churn out doctors to serve Thai people and ensure that they meet international quality standards. We’re not producing doctors that only meet Thai standards because Thailand is not the only country in this world, and notably, in the near future, we’ll also become part of the Asean Community.”
The surgeon-general finally said “Presently, in Thailand there are about 30,000 doctors serving more than 60 million Thai populations. So, the doctor to people ratio is 1:2000. To provide proper care, we must have the ratio of 1:500. Medicine has maintained its popularity among students over the years.
Moreover, Thailand also represents a medical hub that produces doctors under international standards. If more educational institutions offer medical degree programs and obtain accreditation by the Medical Council of Thailand, we’ll able to alleviate doctor shortage problems to some extent with complete facilities of the Police General Hospital, including medical personnel (medical lecturer) with experience in training medical students and service readiness which can accommodate patients in all specialized fields that meet the Medical Council’s criteria. Moreover, we also have expertise in forensic medicine. Therefore, the Police General Hospital is pleased with the designation as a core hospital that supports Siam University’s efforts to produce doctors who will have distinctive qualifications in connection with the expertise of the Police General Hospital.”
Siam University is a private institute of higher learning which is one of the first five institutions of its kind in Thailand. It was established in 1965 and formally inaugurated in 1973. Currently, Siam University offers undergraduate and graduate programs which include Thai and international programs, totaling more than 50 programs. These programs are offered by ten faculties, including the Faculty of Business Administration, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Faculty of Communication Arts, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Nursing, Faculty of Pharmacy, International College, and Graduate College. So far the university has produced more than 69,081 graduates to serve the society.