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The Society of Cardiothoracic
Surgeons has been active in the past year in various areas.Problems identified by the executive
of SOCTS included:
- The uncontrolled proliferation of cardiac units in the
private sector
- Unacceptable situation in some academic units in terms
of funding
- Lack of guidelines for quality accreditation
- Lack of guidelines for establishment of cardiac units
- Absence of a national equivalence examination
- The relative paucity in academic participation locally
- The lack of co-operation between private and public sectors.
Academic
Two academic meetings were held in the past year.
- The biennial congress of the Society was held at the
Kruger Park on June 12-16, 2003. This meeting was attended
by the majority of cardiothoracic surgeons in South Africa
and overseas invited guests. Five invited speakers attended
and there were various international delegates. A total
of 160 people attended the meeting, which was well received.
- Registrars Forum. This is an annual forum, which
was held during February, at the Champagne Sports Resort
in the Drakensberg. This meeting was hosted by the Society
with the sponsorship of Johnson and Johnson/Ethicon and
attended by the heads of all seven academic departments
and the executive of the Society. The two senior registrars
from each department were invited and an academic programme,
which was both free paper and didactic was held over two
days.
Education
The Society has had close contact with the College of Medicine
in drawing up a syllabus for the FCS Cardio. The syllabus
has been drawn up, reviewed and accepted and is now being
presented to the College for acceptance. Presently negotiations
are taking place in order to try and achieve a national equivalence
exam, which will be the entrance examination for cardiothoracic
surgical practice in South Africa. A curriculum will be established
incorporating the syllabus and the keeping and supervision
of logbooks. Guidelines have been set in terms of training
processes and procedures.
Academic Meetings
Organization for the next academic meeting i.e. the biennial
congress, is presently in process. The next meeting will be
held during August 2005.
Accreditation
A draft document for guidelines for quality accreditation
has been drawn by the society and accepted in principle. These
guidelines for the establishment of cardiac units will be
made available to whoever should want to establish a cardiac
unit and will be presented to the HPCSA.
Problem solving
The society has been approached by various persons and/or
institutions, including individuals, hospital groups and medical
aids, with queries and requests for advice. These were handled
at various executive meetings, mostly to the satisfaction
of all parties concerned.
Rob Kleinloog
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