Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Ministry of Health, in its continuous commitment and efforts to maintain high standards of medical and health practice delivery, is looking into setting up a unit that will monitor quality and standard of each of its departments including credentialing and privileging doctors, in particular, in performing certain new procedures.

"Only by having such quality and standards within the ministry can the public be assured that which ever hospitals or clinics that they attend to which are accredited by the ministry are of international standards and most importantly the staff are competent to handle their problems," the Minister of Health said during the opening of the 2nd Annual Brunei Surgical Scientific Session in conjunction with the 5th Annual Surgical Forum. It was held at The Empire Hotel and Country Club.

Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman urged all doctors and other allied health professionals to give their unquestioning commitment to Continuing Medical Education (CME).

Hospitals, clinics and health centers should take an active role in promoting this form of professional development, the minister added.

Organized by the Department of General Surgery at the RIPAS Hospital, the forum was attended by director generals, directors, senior officers, doctors and nurses, as well as others who were involved in the medical field in Brunei.

The one-day surgical forum carried the theme 'Changing Trends in Surgical Practice'.

The minister said in the 70s Brunei only had one local surgeon specialist and to date there are six local specialist surgeons with various sub-specialties such as colorectal surgery, laparoscopic surgery, urology, vascular surgery and cardiothoracic surgery.

Brunei also has another three local surgeons who are in specialist training such as general surgery, pediatric surgery and plastic or reconstructive surgery, Pehin Dato Haji Suyoi added. Brunei also has a surgeon who is affiliated to GJPMC for cardiac surgery.

In 2007, the general surgical department operated on 3,161 patients including 900 emergency cases. In the same year, the number of patients attending general surgical outpatient clinic was l5, 084, the minister said.

"Not so long ago we used to send our patients abroad for surgical treatment and spend millions of dollars, but nowadays most of those surgeries can be done in our country," he said while giving an example where early this year a few local doctors successfully performed an operation on one of the youngest babies weighing 800 grams with a heart problem (Patent ductus atrocious) at RIPAS Hospital and is now healthy like any other normal babies.

"This operation (normally) is done abroad at a specialist heart centre. The coordinated efforts of all doctors and nurses concerned have made such an effort possible here," he added.

The minister said that patients that required surgeries do not have to be put on a long waiting list to get operated on especially when dealing with serious cases such as cancer.

"I am proud to say that Brunei is one of the very few countries in the world where the timing of surgery can be fixed almost immediately. We are most fortunate in that matter."

Pehin Suyoi said healthcare too has become increasingly specialized and each major advancement in treatment requires significant investment in advanced technology.

He said that in recent years there have been shortages of caregivers as fewer people are training to become nurses and physicians at a time when the need for caregivers is growing.

"People are ageing, retiring and requiring more care. As the population ages, more and more people will be seeking medical assistance from a shrinking pool of caregivers," the minister said while voicing concerns. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin