MBRU, Mediclinic Middle East sign cooperation agreement

The Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences (MBRU) announced on Wednesday that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with Mediclinic Middle East to create the optimum environment for its students to gain clinical experience.

The affiliation will enable MBRU students to have clinical exposure starting from their first year, a crucial aspect for developing their clinical thinking, communication skills, bedside manners and overall professional attitude.

Dr. Amer Ahmad Sharif, Vice-Chancellor of MBRU, said, "We are working to develop an integrated academic health system at MBRU to ensure that we are empowering the doctors of tomorrow to become the future leaders in health. This affiliation, the latest in a history of collaborations with Mediclinic, will help us achieve this objective by providing a platform for our students to carry out their clinical experience."

Under the agreement, which was signed earlier this month between Dr. Sharif and David Hadley, Chief Executive Officer of Mediclinic Middle East and Al Noor Hospital Group, both parties will work together to provide MBRU students with the optimum environment to develop their clinical skills.

MBRU aims to become an internationally recognised quality healthcare education provider and a centre for healthcare research, to advance the health status of the UAE community.

Hadley, said, "Mediclinic Middle East is both proud and privileged to be partnering with MBRU on a pioneering initiative between academic institutions and private healthcare sectors in order to train the doctors of the future. We hope this will mark the beginning of a long-standing and mutually successful relationship."

Mediclinic Middle East – part of Mediclinic International, a private hospital group – operates five hospitals and 38 clinics with more than 600 inpatient beds in the UAE.

The first students to benefit from this agreement are the inaugural cohort of the university’s Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) programme, launched this academic year 2016-2017. The first session of this clinical experience programme started earlier this month at the Mediclinic City Hospital in Dubai Healthcare City.

Emphasising on the importance of clinical experience for the development of highly trained and dedicated medical professionals, Dr. Alawi Alsheikh-Ali, Dean of the College of Medicine, MBRU said, "Our students’ first-hand insight into the daily life of healthcare providers and their exposure to patients’ care from the first year will give them a deep understanding of the realities of medicine and make learning more relevant at the early stages of their education journey; enabling them to pursue a career in medicine with confidence."

MBRU faculty will be responsible for planning, overseeing and evaluating the students during their clinical experience.

Christian Schuhmacher, Hospital Director of Mediclinic City Hospital, said, "We are delighted to welcome students from MBRU under this new partnership. As an internationally accredited tertiary level hospital, at Mediclinic City Hospital students will be able to learn from some of the very best medical personnel in Dubai, with the opportunity to work on a diverse range of cases, including the most complex. We are proud to be able to offer these students such an exciting opportunity.