Fiji’s top Year 13 student offered MBBS scholarship following changes announced in revised budget

Fiji’s top Year 13 student, Ria Dipansha Devi whose dream is to become a doctor has been offered a MBBS scholarship by the Tertiary Scholarships Loans Services to study Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery.

The Sangam Sadhu Kuppuswamy Memorial College student scored the highest mark of 395 out of 400 in the Year 13 examination.

Devi was earlier opting to study Bachelor of Pharmacy at the Fiji National University as there was no National Toppers scholarship that catered for the MBBS program.

However, this was changed following the announcement made by the Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum in the revised budget to provide 20 full-time scholarships under the National Toppers Scheme effective from Semester 1 2022 for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.

Sayed-Khaiyum had said this will also amend the existing scholarship regulation to include students who did Year 13 in 2020.