The government’s public relations executives seem to have gone ahead of themselves in showcasing the administration’s ability to lure world-class players to our shores, if a small write-up in a campus newspaper is any indication.

The newspaper belongs to no ordinary university but the highly-regarded Johns Hopkins University.

NONE The same university that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak ( left ) announced late last month will be setting up a medical school and teaching hospital in Malaysia.

"Johns Hopkins University to set up medical school and hospital in Malaysia", blared one report; "PM lures Johns Hopkins medical school to Malaysia", trumpeted another.

Speaking to Malaysian journalists in New York on Sept 25, Najib was reported as saying that a Johns Hopkins Medical School would be set up and it would have a 600-bed hospital and a research centre in Serdang, Selangor.

The joint-venture agreement between a local company and Johns Hopkins was expected to be signed in Kuala Lumpur in November, and the school plans to take 100 students each year for its four-year programme, said the reports.

Johns Hopkins - based in Maryland - is ranked among the world’s top universities and has one of the most prestigious medical programmes. Outside the US, it has campuses in China and Italy.

More modest plans?

A small write-up carried on Oct 4 in The JHU Gazette , however, suggests Johns Hopkins has considerably more modest plans for Malaysia.

In an article titled "JHM inks MOU to explore collaboration in Malaysia", J HU Gazette says the university’s Johns Hopkins Medicine and Academic Medical Center had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kuala Lumpur-based Chase Perdana Sdn Bhd to explore collaborative opportunities in the areas of medical education, clinical care and research in Malaysia.

“Our ultimate objective is to assist with the development of Malaysia's first fully integrated private teaching hospital and medical school, including research based on our organisational and operational model,” the university’s medical faculty dean Edward D Miller and vice-dean David Nichols were quoted as saying.

“Miller and Nichols said that the terms and conditions of the memorandum will provide a framework for jointly evaluating the scope of the engagement, which covers clinical and academic affairs, programmatic development, research activities, campus facilities master planning and knowledge-transfer programmes,” The JHU Gazette read.

“Specifics of the collaboration will be developed over the next few weeks,” it added.

The picture thus portrayed by The JHU Gazette , thereby, is that of an arrangement by which Johns Hopkins officials would assist in the setting up in Serdang of a teaching hospital and medical school.

Local media reports that emerged on Sept 25 and Sept 26, however, suggested Johns Hopkins was setting up a RM1.8 billion medical school and 600-bed teaching hospital - just as it had established campuses in China, Italy and the US.

Between the glowing reports of national news organisations and a write-up in a small campus newspaper, which one are we to believe?