The number has grown this year – from 48 to 64 -, but the goal for «the next few years» is to increase to 100 the vacancies in the Integrated Masters in Medicine (MIM) at the University of Algarve (UAlg). The wish was expressed this Tuesday, 8 September, by Manuel Heitor, minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, who guaranteed that the matter is already being worked on.
The government official participated in the reception ceremony for the students of the 12th edition of the Integrated Masters, who have already started classes on the 1st of September.
This year, there are 64 students who managed to enter the MIM, after a rigorous selection process. In recent years, interest in this Integrated Masters has increased, which makes you want to new flights.
In statements to the Sul Informação, on the sidelines of the session, Manuel Heitor guaranteed that «we are working on increasing vacancies, with the University and local authorities, so that the necessary conditions are created to form program-contracts here and affirm what was the initial desire to arrive to 100 students per year'.
The increase to 64 is seen as “a growing step”, not least because the work that the Clinical Academic Center and the Algarve Biomedical Center (ABC) have been doing is “particularly important and essential”.
“On the other hand, the partnerships that these entities made to reinforce scientific activity were positive and the hiring of new doctors and the partnership with the hospital has been very important. The Algarve has taken the right steps to now also be able to increase the number of students, always guaranteeing teaching with clinical practices», considered minister Manuel Heitor.
The government official added that "everything will be done so that it can evolve and resume the initial plan, which was partially interrupted and that we are now able to accelerate".
This request for an increase in vacancies was also made by Paulo Águas, dean of the University of Algarve, in his welcoming speech.
«We represent 3% of doctors trained in medical schools in Portugal, but we want more. We consider it short», said the leader of the academy.
In 12 years, UAlg has trained more than half a thousand doctors and Paulo Águas left a wish: "we hope that the next half thousand will take less than this half thousand". At this moment, the dean also recalled, we are in a moment of «transition» between the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine and the future Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Isabel Palmeirim, director of the Integrated Masters in Medicine, guaranteed that, «in recent years, the teaching conditions and opportunities in the Algarve, in the area of health, have evolved a lot, due to the creation of the ABC».
Looking at the 64 new MIM students, Isabel Palmeirim said that the four years of the course will be "demanding", but "we will be by your side the whole time".
"This is our commitment. We want them to be great doctors, who have all the knowledge, but always have the notion that a doctor works with a person with a great degree of fragility, which requires that we always have a human side», he concluded.
Photos: Pedro Lemos | Sul Informação
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