RCSI considering the establishment of an RCSI Institute of Global Surgery

The possibility of establishing the Institute was discussed at the RCSI Council meeting in April, minutes of which have been seen by the<strong><em> Medical Independent</em></strong> (<strong><em>MI</em></strong>) following a Freedom of Information request.

“The development of an RCSI Institute of Global Surgery with an appointment of a Chair of Global Surgery remains a proposal,” a College spokesperson told <strong><em>MI</em></strong>, “the central purpose of which would be to continue to grow RCSI’s contribution to the development of surgery and the surgical workforce in the developing world.”

Should the establishment of the Institute and the Chair go ahead, it would be based in Dublin, the RCSI told this newspaper.

The creation of the Institute was raised in the April Council meeting during a discussion on the RCSI’s long-established partnership with the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA).

The meeting heard that there is an “urgent need to train and accredit surgeons in Sub-Saharan Africa”.

“This collaboration does not involve bringing African surgical trainees to Ireland for training, nor does it involve RCSI directly training surgical trainees in the COSECSA region, but rather building the capacity of COSECSA to train, examine and grow the surgical workforce in its own region, within its own training programmes and with its own examinations and qualifications,” the minutes state.