By Yahaya Idris, Asaba
The Asaba Specialist Hospital has commenced moves to secure full accreditation from the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) for its Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, as part of efforts to expand residency training and strengthen specialist healthcare delivery in Delta State.
The accreditation exercise took place on Thursday, with a WACS inspection team assessing facilities and equipment at the department.
The team also toured consulting rooms and interacted with resident doctors as part of the assessment process.
The Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Peace Ighosewe, said the initiative was necessary to address the growing challenge of recruiting specialist doctors amid the continued migration of Nigerian medical professionals abroad.
Ighosewe said the hospital had made considerable progress towards satisfying WACS requirements, including the provision of facilities for non-invasive gynaecological procedures such as hysteroscopy and colposcopy.
According to her, the inspection team assessed the available facilities, identified areas requiring further improvement and engaged resident doctors on ways to strengthen healthcare delivery.
The CMD said successful accreditation would enable the hospital to train resident doctors who would eventually become consultants, thereby creating a sustainable pool of specialist manpower.
“Accreditations are very demanding, but it is worth it because at the end of the day, you get the opportunity to train residents who will become the next generation of consultants and provide care to our teeming patients,” she said.
Ighosewe expressed optimism that the department would meet the requirements for full accreditation, noting that most of the issues previously raised by the college had been addressed.
She said the need to train more specialists had become increasingly important because of difficulties associated with recruiting consultants.
“With the Japa syndrome, it’s very difficult to get consultants to employ these days. But now we’ve trained, it means that we have a steady supply of fellows to provide that specialty service,” she said.
The successful completion of the WACS accreditation process is expected to expand residency training opportunities at Asaba Specialist Hospital and improve access to specialised medical services in Delta State.