Another training period in the ‘General Surgery Assistant Training Program’, which is jointly conducted by Istanbul Medeniyet University and Somalia Benadir University and coordinated by Istanbul Medeniyet University African Health Studies and Application Center (IMU MASAM), has been successfully completed in November 2024. Aiming to contribute to the development of Somalia’s health system by training new physicians and to increase the access to basic health services, 6 Somali residents who participated in the training programme and received intensive training from the faculty members of our university were entitled to receive the title of ‘Specialist Physician’ to serve as surgeons in their country.
Somalian assistants, who were included in the ‘General Surgery Assistant Training Programme’ among the Sixth Group physicians, were equipped with both theoretical knowledge and practical surgical skills during their 2-month residency at our university hospital every year. In addition, within the scope of this joint training programme between the two universities, Prof. Dr. Orhan ALİMOĞLU, Head of the Department of General Surgery of our University, Op. Dr. Ahmet Aydın TAŞĞIN and Op. Dr. Ayşenur ÖZCAN went to Somalia and gave on-site trainings, conducted exams and evaluated assistant report cards. At the end of 4 years of intensive and instructive training processes, our assistants succeeded in the speciality exam consisting of 3 steps (theoretical, practical and thesis studies) and received the title of ‘Specialist Physician’.
IMU MASAM President Prof. Dr. Orhan ALİMOĞLU emphasised that eliminating the surgeon shortage is a critical step to reduce the health risks in the region and expressed the situation in the region and the value of the trainings given to our assistants with the following words: ‘Patients who can be treated with simple surgical procedures in developed countries of the world are losing their lives in Somalia due to lack of surgeons. Initiated in 2013, the surgeons graduated from this programme perform surgery on 1000 patients per month in different cities of Somalia. With the new surgeons graduated, surgical services will be provided in more rural areas of Somalia.’
The fact that infant and neonatal mortality rates are among the highest in the world in Somalia, where one out of every 7 Somali children dies before reaching their fifth birthday, gives a serious alarm in terms of public health. The fact that the ratio of doctors per 1000 people in the country is only 0.02 compared to the world average of 1.50 reveals the lack of surgical expertise and the need to strengthen the health system. This serious difference compared to world standards points to the lack of basic medical services, medical personnel and training opportunities and leads to an increase in mortality among the people who have difficulty in accessing health services.
Our surgeons trained in this programme will continue to take steps towards solving public health problems by contributing to the development of the health system in Somalia.
