Dr Gloria Quansah-Asare exchanging the agreement with Dr Elvis Kuma Forson
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Incision Netherlands have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to improve surgical training in the country through online tutorials and demonstration.
The incision academy which is an online learning platform committed to standardising the training of surgical care providers offers online step-by-step guide at the level of individual surgical procedures.
The introduction of the learning platform will mean doctors who want to upgrade themselves in a particular surgical procedure can register to be part of the academy which will train, test and score their performance which they can use for their continuous professional assessment.
Dr Elvis Kuma Forson, Incision Netherlands Local Correspondent and Clinical Comment Lead Project Manager, demonstrating how the platform works, said the incision academy can be accessed through any digital device at any place with internet connectivity.
Also, he said that a free offline android and ISO App will soon become available for those who will not be able to connect to the internet.
“The online available incision academy offers the Ghana Health Service an opportunity to build on the capacity of doctors in the area of surgical skills through continuous professional development driven initiatives,” he said.
Dr Forson pointed out that the introduction of the online academy will bring in a number of benefits to the service, including helping doctors acquire skills that can give them confidence to perform the necessary surgical procedures with the desired outcome and prevent post surgical complications.
“The medical officers in the districts will not need to come and compete with other specialist trainees at the tertiary facilities, this will help retain the medical officers within the community based health facilities where they are most needed,” he added.
The 1st Secretary Health, Netherlands Embassy, Ger J. Steenbergen, commended the GHS for being the first country in Africa to make the incision platform accessible for professional upgrade of doctors.
He, however, said the implementation process will need the collaborative effort of other partners for it to the successful.
“The job cannot be done alone and as such we need partners to assist in its implementation,” he said.
Dr Gloria Quansah-Asare, Deputy Director General of GHS, was optimistic the new platform will assist doctors in acquiring the necessary international standard skills in new surgical procedures.
She, however, indicated that the programme is not aimed at schooling doctors on surgical procedure but rather to help them upgrade their knowledge and skills.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri