County's first medical school welcomes students

The first medical school in a county has welcomed its inaugural students undertaking a five-year bachelor degree.

The University of Hertfordshire's medical school, in Hatfield, said it aimed to recruit up to 70 international students a year.

Students from the university's first intake have travelled from countries including Australia, Canada, the US, the United Arab Emirates and Zimbabwe.

One of them, Vanessa Milne, 56, who is from New Zealand, said: "It's taken a lot of courage to come here but the staff have been amazing and have made me feel welcome."

The school opened a year earlier than expected in response to a wider need for doctors in the region.

Prof Zoe Aslanpour, the head of medicine at the university, said: "For every 1,000 people in the East of England we've got 2.5 doctors, whereas in England it's about 3.2 - so we're short of 4,500 doctors."

Milne said she has been trying to get into medical school for 20 years after a career in pain medicine, rehabilitation and anaesthetics.

She said: "My end goal is fluid for now and I'm going to carry on and see where that leads me but ultimately I'm interested in public health and pandemic response.

"It's a cohort which is predominantly international which speaks to me and brings a lot of different perspectives from all over the world."

As part of the course, the students will undertake placements at local hospitals, such as Watford General and the Lister in Stevenage, and GP practices.

Daven Chui, a 19-year-old student originally from Hong Kong, has moved to Hertfordshire to study after a period living in York.

"You get the countryside and there's a lot of trees and the campus is really nice and it's really close to London and closer to St Albans which I prefer.

"The clinical simulation means people can get to practise hands on and it's a privilege to have such a nice set-up space for us."

Aylin Bayramova moved from Azerbaijan to Cambridge for her sixth form studies before starting at the medical school.

She said: "The fact they already have hands-on education from the first year appeals to me as I don't do well with learning for four years and then being thrown into practical skills."

The medical school said it aimed to welcome UK-funded medical students in future years as national allocations become available.

Irene Ctori, the dean of the school of health, medicine and life sciences, said: "We're going to be training doctors to work and serve in the community of Hertfordshire.

"We have a long-standing history of training medical and healthcare professionals in the county and this is a natural next step to have medical students here at the university."

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