The Neglect of the Global Surgical Workforce: Experience and Evidence from Uganda

Excerpt

I read the article by Ozgediz et al. entitled “The Neglect of the Global Surgical Workforce: Experience and Evidence from Uganda” [1]. I want to share my experience and contribute my thoughts on this serious problem facing rural populations in sub-Saharan Africa. I had conducted a similar health facility assessment and survey for the government of Cross River State (CRS) in Nigeria in 2000 (unpublished report). I have also worked in Mozambique and witnessed the surgical skill and volume of surgical services rendered by nonphysician surgical technicians called “tecnicos de cirurgia” in Portuguese. I have undergone surgical training as part of my residency training in General Practice/Family Medicine (GP/FM)-original Nigerian Model, and served in peripheral/rural hospitals in Nigeria and Mozambique at the level of Principal Medical Officer/Medical Director for more than 10 years before going into public health medicine. I am therefore not writing as a specialist surgeon but as someone who has served the rural population as a generalist physician with surgical and obstetric training and skills. …