Mulago Hospital to train brain surgeons
Jul 29, 2009
UGANDAN doctors seeking to specialise in brain surgery will for the first time be able to do so without travelling abroad starting next month.
By Lydia Namubiru
UGANDAN doctors seeking to specialise in brain surgery will for the first time be able to do so without travelling abroad starting next month.
This follows a training programme that is being designed by Prof. Michael Huglund of Duke University in the US and Dr. Micheal Muhumuza, the head of Neurosurgery at Mulago Hospital, which will result into Uganda’s first homemade neurosurgery degrees.
The programme is part of an ongoing partnership between the two institutions, which started in 2007. Prof. Huglund, who is in Uganda on a five- day neurosurgical camp, said they would admit doctors who have completed internship with a neuro clinic.
The interns will be trained for two years by consultant brain surgeons at Mulago Hospital before they work in different countries in their third year. They would then return to Uganda to complete a fourth year, he said.
Duke University has also committed to periodically send trainers to work with these trainees in Mulago.
“On completion, the doctors will be awarded their Masters in neurosurgery and a fellowship with the college of surgeons, which would allow them to practice anywhere in East Africa,†Huglund said on Sunday.
The Ministry of Health has agreed to pay the tuition for the maiden students who start next month, while Mulago will provide them with accommodation.
Uganda currently has only five neurosurgeons. Four of them work at Mulago Hospital while one works in Mbale.
According to Muhumuza, there is an upsurge in patients, especially accident victims who need head and spine surgeries. He added that there is also an increase of patients with brain tumours.
UGANDAN doctors seeking to specialise in brain surgery will for the first time be able to do so without travelling abroad starting next month.
This follows a training programme that is being designed by Prof. Michael Huglund of Duke University in the US and Dr. Micheal Muhumuza, the head of Neurosurgery at Mulago Hospital, which will result into Uganda’s first homemade neurosurgery degrees.
The programme is part of an ongoing partnership between the two institutions, which started in 2007. Prof. Huglund, who is in Uganda on a five- day neurosurgical camp, said they would admit doctors who have completed internship with a neuro clinic.
The interns will be trained for two years by consultant brain surgeons at Mulago Hospital before they work in different countries in their third year. They would then return to Uganda to complete a fourth year, he said.
Duke University has also committed to periodically send trainers to work with these trainees in Mulago.
“On completion, the doctors will be awarded their Masters in neurosurgery and a fellowship with the college of surgeons, which would allow them to practice anywhere in East Africa,†Huglund said on Sunday.
The Ministry of Health has agreed to pay the tuition for the maiden students who start next month, while Mulago will provide them with accommodation.
Uganda currently has only five neurosurgeons. Four of them work at Mulago Hospital while one works in Mbale.
According to Muhumuza, there is an upsurge in patients, especially accident victims who need head and spine surgeries. He added that there is also an increase of patients with brain tumours.