Welbodi Partnership is pleased to inform you that the long
awaited news of accreditation has reached the shores of Sierra Leone. Accreditation
means that for the first time ever, doctors in Sierra Leone can pursue
paediatric residency training without leaving the country.
The accreditation status of the
Ola During Children's Hospital was officially announced during a meeting held
on Wednesday 22 January 2014 at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in the
presence of the Honourable Minister of Health, Ms Miatta Kargbo, and other
representatives from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, the Ola During Children’s
Hospital and the Welbodi Partnership.
After a brief overview of the accreditation process from
2010 to date by Dr. Abiodun, the news on the accreditation status of the
hospital was announced and the official documentation was handed over to the
Acting Chief Medical Officer, who in turn handed it over to the Minister.
The official letter from the West
African College of Physicians stated that “The Council at its meeting held in
Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire on Wednesday 6th November, 2013 approved that your
institution [Ola During Children’s Hospital] be granted temporary accreditation for 2 years, to train membership residents
for paediatrics. The accreditation is for 2 years from 6th November 2013.”
The Minister addressed the
audience by thanking those involved for their hard work in making accreditation
become a reality. She highlighted the importance of this milestone and
encouraged those present to continue their efforts in ensuring that
postgraduate training will be delivered at a high standard.
Establishing in-country postgraduate
training has been a core focus of Welbodi Partnership’s support to the Ministry
of Health and Sanitation and Ola During Children’s Hospital for the past five
years. We have invested resources to support doctors to take the primary exam,
to provide key upgrades to infrastructure and equipment (including the
development of a state-of-the-art digital x-ray department), to cover the cost
of accreditation visits, etc. We are grateful to our donors and partners who
have enabled this to happen.
Accreditation for the Children’s
Hospital is excellent news as it means that in-country paediatric training can
commence and doctors no longer need to be sent abroad to do their paediatric
residency training. This will boost the health services and human resource
status in Sierra Leone and be of great benefit to the many children in the
country in need of high quality paediatric specialist care.
We would like to congratulate the
Ministry of Health and Sanitation and the Ola During Children’s Hospital staff
in achieving this important milestone.
Welbodi Partnership will continue
to support the Ministry and hospital staff to ensure that a high quality residency-training
programme is developed and delivered and hope that together we can work towards
achieving full accreditation in 2015.
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Pictured above: Dr. Sarian Kamara, Acting CMO and Honourable Minister Ms. Miatta Kargbo
