15 July 2016. In a media release, the St.Gallen Cantonal Government was pleased to acknowledge that the Zurich Cantonal Government had approved the cooperation approach to medical training.

The Government is convinced that the provision of places for medical students in St.Gallen will effectively counter the shortage of doctors in Eastern Switzerland and thus in Switzerland as a whole. The St.Gallen Cantonal Hospital, Switzerland’s sixth biggest hospital, will be able to position itself even better in competition as a recognised teaching hospital in great demand. Clinical training places and intensified research activities will not only make the central hospital attractive to medical students and young doctors, but also to patients. The HSG will score points with its competencies in health care management, technology (IT, big data, digitalisation), as well as health economics and health law.

St.Gallen Medical Master
Now that Zurich’s Cantonal Government has granted its approval, the Canton of St.Gallen is going to follow the course it has set consistently. After the summer holidays, the Government will debate the report submitted by the St.Gallen Medical Master project group. With the Zurich Cantonal Government’s approval and the cooperation agreement concluded between the University of Zurich and the HSG, as well as the St.Gallen Cantonal Hospital, the cooperation approach with Zurich will receive strong support. This variant is no less than the solution that was desired by the St.Gallen Government. This yes on the part of the Zurich Government makes it likely that the Canton of St.Gallen will be able to receive a share in the start-up funding which the Confederation is making available for the provision of new student places in human medicine.

Institute of Medicine
The cooperation approach allows for more intensive cooperation in a network made up of the St.Gallen Cantonal Hospital, the University of St.Gallen and the University of Zurich. In the field of medical research, Zurich’s University Hospital has shown a particularly strong interest in cooperation. An Institute of Medicine is intended to be established at the University of St.Gallen. The HSG considers it to be a great opportunity to be granted a link to the academic growth segment of medicine, health research and the life sciences. These fields produce societally relevant questions at the interface of the HSG core fields, with strong points in the economic, legal and social sciences.

photo: zettberlin / photocase.de