Seychelles to send medical students to SRM University, Chennai

The government of Seychelles, which has been sending a steady stream of patients to Chennai for medical care, will also send its students to universities here for medical education, said Danny Faure, Vice-President, Republic of Seychelles, here on Monday.

This year, for the first time, a student from Seychelles was awarded a fully-funded scholarship to study medicine at SRM University, and more are to follow, Mr. Faure added.

“Earlier, we used to send our students to Manipal University. But now, we are in talks with private universities here to accommodate more students from Seychelles,” M.S. Sai, honorary consul said.
Mr. Faure said Seychelles has always looked up to India and Chennai in particular, for its quality medical treatment. “Nearly 15 years ago, we used to send our patients to Singapore and South Africa but over the past many years, we have been sending our most difficult cases to India,” he said, adding that though Seychelles had made medical treatment free for its citizens, there was a shortage of specialists there. A medical board in the country, also comprising international consultants, decided the patients to be sent outside Seychelles for specialised medical care.

 he government there, he said, spent nearly 2.5 billion U.S dollars on overseas medical care alone.

Mr. Faure, who is on an official visit to India, met patients from Seychelles undergoing treatment at Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital here. Waven William, high commissioner to India, Republic of Seychelles, were also present. S. M. Balaji director of the hospital was also present during the interaction.

 Mr. Faure added that hospitals in Chennai, especially in the case of craniofacial issues, were rendering much help to patients from Seychelles, and he looked forward to more collaboration between the two countries. He added that Mr. Balaji was training personnel in his country 

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