Communication between medical students and patients takes centre stage this week as Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) has begun a seven-day training programme for medical interpreters. A total of 25 candidates, selected from over 150 who applied, are attending the 40-hour ‘Bridging the Gap’ programme that started on Sunday.

They are the first professional medical interpreters to be trained in Qatar.

The course is run by experts from the Seattle-based Cross Cultural Health Care Programme (CCHCP), an organisation that has trained approximately 10,000 interpreters in the US, Canada and Japan since 1995.

The immediate aim is to train the participants, who are all fluent in English and one of four other languages, to work as translators and interpreters between the medical students and patients who speak only Arabic, Hindi, Tamil or Urdu.

A professional medical interpreter provides an immediate, accurate translation as the doctor – or medical student – takes a patient history, gives commands or explains procedures during the physical examination, and discusses treatment options. The interpreter also communicates discharge and medication instructions as required.

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