By Mohamed Sahr
West African surgeons on Monday commenced a week-long confab in Freetown, amid calls for collaboration to promote access to surgical and anaesthetic services in the sub region.
The meeting taking place at the Freetown International Conference Centre in Aberdeen is part of 64th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the West Africa College of Surgeons (WACS).
Over 600 surgeons from across the sub region are participating in the event designed for knowledge sharing, collaboration, training of young surgeons and prioritization of innovation and research in the surgical field.
Sierra Leone’s Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, gave the keynote address at the opening of the conference, speaking on the critical role surgery plays in health care delivery. He noted that surgeons remain the custodians of healing, with the ability to process skills, knowledge and dedication towards alleviating suffering, restoring health and transforming lives.
Vice President Jalloh also touched on the underlining challenges surgical frontline workers face in the region, particularly in Sierra Leone, noting that surgical and anaesthetic care are crucial in efforts to attain universal health coverage and, by extension, boosting economic productivity.
“Accelerating inclusive economic growth through universal health coverage is an invaluable opportunity,” Jalloh said.
He also spoke on health financing as the biggest obstacles to attain universal health coverage.
The Sierra Leonean Vice President therefore urged members of WACS to make surgery widely available by embracing public-private partnership, task-sharing and emerging approaches.
Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, said that the theme of the conference resonated with Sierra Leone’s commitment to improving healthcare services for all its citizens. He cited numerous challenges hindering the provision of surgical and anesthetic services, which include limited resources, infrastructure and monitoring and reporting of surgical care.
“We are ready to take advantage of technological improvement and exchange of ideas in a forum like this,” Dr. Demby said.
Professor Ezeome Emmanuel, President of the West Africa College of Surgeons, said the conference was a good opportunity for sister institutions to rekindle relationships with shared vision to firmly embrace progress that aligns with surgical practices in the sub region.
The hundreds of surgeons attending the conference embarked on a pre-conference outreach exercise, providing free surgeries to Sierra Leoneans in under-served communities in Freetown, Makeni, Kenema and Koidu.
A total of 218 surgeries were conducted and 201 beneficiaries recovered within a week, with no complication, according to Prof. Emmanuel, noting that the outreach service is part of WACS’s cooperate social responsibility to Sierra Leone.
In his statement, he also said that WACS acknowledged the issue of brain-drain as one of the main challenges affecting the institution in recent years. He promised that they would continue to train and retain skilled surgical graduates, particularly female surgeons, within the workforce of the sub region.
