Geneeskundige School

Healthcare in Suriname was limited and basic outside of the capital Paramaribo. In the 1870s, the British government issued a complaint about the morality rate among indentured labourers who had been imported from India.[2] At the time, Herman Benjamins was director of the Department of Education, and responsible for the development of the Geneeskundige School.[3]

In 1880, a motion of Coenraad van Lier to found a medical school passed in the Colonial Estates, however the States General of the Netherlands removed the plan from the budget. In 1881, a new motion was accepted.[4]

On 1 April 1882, the Geneeskundige School was opened. It offered free education in the medical profession, however it was not a university, therefore, graduates were only allowed to practise medicine in the Dutch West Indies (Suriname and the former Netherlands Antilles). Graduates were obliged to work in an assigned District for a period of six years.[2] It was possible to continue their education at a Dutch or American university[2] providing the student was younger than 40 years.[5]

More than 600 people graduated from the Geneeskundige School. About half later graduated from a university. About 10% were women.[2] The school offered a 7½ year course after the Mulo (junior high school).[6]

On 26 September 1969, the Geneeskundige School was transformed to the Medische Faculteit, an academic school. In 1972, it became part of the Anton de Kom University.[1]

• Henk Chin A Sen (1934–1999), former President of Suriname.[7]
• Sewraam Rambaran Mishre (1915–1964), physician and Deputy Prime Minister.[8]
• Sophie Redmond (1907–1955), physician and activist, first Afro-Surinamese woman to graduate from the school.[2]

• Herman Benjamins (1850–1933), educator, editor and encyclopaedist.[4]
• Coenraad van Lier (1836–1903), physician and member of the Colonial Estates.[4][9]