US-Malaysia medical school collaboration collapses

A dispute with Johns Hopkins University in the United States, ostensibly over frequent late payments, has led to a termination of the American institutions partnership with Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine in Malaysia, both sides have confirmed.

Although the two sides are still disputing how much money is owed, Perdana in Malaysia has said it is intending to announce a collaboration with another leading top tier US university in due course, after an agreement was apparently signed on 11 August.

According to a separate statement from Johns Hopkins Medicine International, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine provided advisory and consulting services to Academic Medical Centre, or AMC which owns Perdana to help develop Malaysias first private teaching hospital and private medical school offering a US-style curriculum.

Lindsay Roylance Rothstein, Johns Hopkins director of marketing and communications, said in the statement by email to University World News that these services were delivered from November 2010 to July 2014, providing guidance and advice to the Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine, or PUGSOM, and assisting in teaching and in the initiation of the school.

However, we reached the difficult decision to end the existing relationship and agreement with AMC and we sent official notice of that decision to AMC on March 17, 2014.

We took this action because payments required under the agreement for the services provided by Johns Hopkins and its faculty were frequently received late and at the time the agreement was terminated, Johns Hopkins had not been paid for more than 12 months of work.

But there appears to be disagreement over the arrears.

Perdana, in its own statement released last Monday 18 August, said AMC had paid US$34.199 million to Johns Hopkins on behalf of Perdana.

It said US$5m was paid towards the Swami Institute for International Medical Education established at Johns Hopkins University, and a further US$29.199 million as part of the affiliation and collaboration agreement.

The last payment made to Johns Hopkins was US$2 million on 7 May 2014, Perdana said in its statement, adding: AMC and Johns Hopkins are in dispute over whether any further sums are payable and the failure of Johns Hopkins to address the many grievances of AMC and Perdana University.

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US-Malaysia medical school collaboration collapses

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