HMC Holds Key Surgery Course for Arab Board Trainees

Doha, May 13 (QNA) - Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) conducted the fifth Qatari course for Arab Board Trainees in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery (ORL-HNS) recently. The course imparted training to ORL-HNS professionals who are preparing for the Arab Board examination. Candidates from Bahrain, Iraq, Sudan and other Gulf countries besides hosts Qatar, the HMC said Sunday in a media statement. HMC's ORL-HNS (ENT) Section Head and Programme Director, Dr Abdul Salam Al Qahtani, said, "Since 1998 we have had about ten doctors who have passed the Arab Board examination. "This year we have had around ten participants in the course. Each year we should graduate two or three residents, who will then take the Arab Board. After they pass the exam they will be certified by the Arab Board and can work as a specialist anywhere in the world," added Dr Al Qahtani who is one of the first doctors to pass the Arab Board in the Middle East. Giving details of the course, Assistant Programme Director and Consultant, ORL-HNS (ENT) Section Dr Aisha Larem, said, "For the present course we invited three lecturers who are also Arab Board examiners. This gives an excellent opportunity for our residents to be able to learn how to answer questions in the examination." Course lecturers included Professor Salah Mansour who is the Chairman of the ORL-HNS Arab Board, Lebanon; Professor of ORL-HNS and Faculty of Medicine at Cairo University Ismail Zohdi, and Prof. Professor of ORL and Faculty of Medicine at Garyounis University in Libya Jamal Ben Amer, she added. The Arab Board of Medical Specializations which was founded by the Council of Arab Health Ministers in Kuwait in 1978 aims to improve health services in the Arab world by raising the level of scientific and practical knowledge in various disciplines, establishing a certification procedure for each medical specialty, and organizing teaching and training sessions for the resident physicians in conjunction with teaching institutions in the Arab world. Head of Rhinology and Associate Programme Director, ORL-HNS (ENT) Section Dr Shanmugam Ganesan said, "In the last five years, the majority of our examiners have passed. Passing the exam is also one of the criteria to become a specialist at HMC." Talking about the development of the course over the last few years, Dr Al Qahtani said, "During the five years of offering this course, we have continuously developed it according to our residents' training needs, and have focused on certain subjects to improve their knowledge and surgical skills. "We see it as one of the best training courses because we are familiarizing the participants with a real examination situation. The type of lectures is also changing and the interactive session is improved. We try to make the course beneficial for all the candidates and help them gain both basic and advanced knowledge." The ENT Section is one the biggest departments at HMC. It examines between 23,000-27,000 patients per year and conducts 2,300-2,500 surgical procedures per year. "This is a good number to train residents as they get exposed to a lot of cases and have a good range of materials for education," added Dr Al Qahtani. (QNA)