In February 2021, a team from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) together with its associates conducted an inspection exercise of College of Surgeons of East & Central Africa (COSECSA) training institutions in Kenya, as part of KMPDC’s monitoring and evaluation framework.
The inspections, which took place between the 22nd and the 26th of February 2021, marked the second such exercise conducted by KMPDC, and was in line with the Council’s mandate to regulate the training of all medical and dental practitioners and community oral health officers (COHOs).
The team, appointed by the Council’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Daniel Yumbya, also visited existing and proposed COSECSA training sites in order to ascertain whether or not they meet the minimum requirements to train residents in general surgery.
The week-long exercise targeted 24 sites and was aimed at advancing education, training, standards, research and practice in surgical care in the country. This will in turn, help increase the number of surgeons in Kenya which still remains very low.
According to our data, there are only 581 licensed surgeons in the country. The COSECSA program therefore aims to bridge this gap through a unique in-service training, where the surgeons are taught within their countries of origin and in their respective counties. This not only reduces costs incurred by trainees if they were to study abroad, but also helps in surgeon retention post qualification at the place of study.
With most surgeons based in urban areas, this unique training program also aids in the distribution of the specialists across the country as most surgeons are retained in the specific counties where they studied.
Some of the COSECSA training sites that were inspected include the Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, PCEA Kikuyu Hospital, AIC Kijabe Mission Hospital among others.
