ABOUT THE COLLEGE The College of Surgeons of East, Central, & Southern Africa (COSECSA) is an independent body whose aim is to foster postgraduate education in Surgery and to harmonize Surgical Training throughout the region of East, Central and Southern Africa. Admission to the College is open to all registered medical practitioners who comply with the professional requirements for admission. COSECSA is registered as a non-profit making body in the constituent countries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, but may include other East, Southern, and Central Africa (ECSA) countries in its activities. The College has the endorsement of the Ministries of Health and the Medical Schools of the region. COSECSA functions in cooperation with the South African and West African College of Surgeons, and maintains links with the Colleges of Surgery and other surgical programs internationally. PTOLEMY PROJECT In order to improve the health of people in the developing world, it is important that researchers there have access to the peer-reviewed medical literature originating in the developed world, as well as to the journals and texts originating all over the developing world. The Ptolemy library will designate COSECSA Candidates as research affiliates of the University of Toronto, and be provided with my.access accounts that allow full access to the Library's electronic resources. The University of Toronto Library is the 3rd largest research library in North America. Back to Top HISTORY In 1996, a Steering Committee of the Association of Surgeons of East Africa (ASEA), supported by the enthusiastic and farsighted surgeons who would become the Foundation Fellows of COSECSA recognised that the quality and quantity of surgical services available to people within the region was inadequate. Training of specialist surgeons in the region was restricted to the M.Med surgery programmes (or equivalent) in University Teaching Hospitals with only limited numbers and a variable training programme. Access to training in the UK was becoming restricted and the FRCS exam was being phased out. It was felt necessary to formulate a common surgical training programme, which could be undertaken in designated training institutes in the region with a common exam and the award of an internationally recognised surgical qualification. The College of Surgeons of East & Central Africa was initiated to accomplish this aim. The following year, the Ministers of Health of the ECSA countries, the Deans of Medical Colleges and the Commonwealth Regional Health Community Secretariat approved the College. The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh agreed to cooperate in setting up the training programmes and the examinations of the College later in 1997. This was followed by the preparation and publication of the college constitution and an examination syllabus to coincide with the official inauguration of the College in Nairobi in December 1999. In December 2001 at the first Annual General Meeting in Lusaka, the Council of the College was elected by the Foundation Fellows, and the name of the College was officially changed to the College of Surgeons of East Central & Southern Africa at the request of the regional Health Ministers. Back to Top COSECSA CONSTITUTION Revised in October 2004, the COSECSA Constitution outlines the Mission and Mandate of COSECSA. Download the Constitution (143KB) |