Surgery

The Department is organized for service, teaching and research on the basis of surgical specialty units to satisfy relevant needs, for example:

1. The need to provide full coverage of surgical services to the community based on specialties in a teaching hospital setting.

2. The need to afford consultants and residents opportunities to carry out meaningful research on specialty basis and publish in well defined areas of specialisation.

3. The need to provide appropriate teaching/learning experiences for undergraduate medical students on specialty basis to satisfy the requirements of the new regulations curriculum and syllabus in surgery for the MBBS examinations of the University of Benin.

4. The need to utilize these units as nuclei for the establishment of academic postgraduate surgical programmes as required by the University of Benin to be based in the School of Postgraduate Studies.

5. The need to satisfy the requirements for the training and Examinations of various Medical Colleges for higher surgical training, in particular, the Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College and The West African College of Surgeons.

Appraisal of Standard of Degree Examination

The syllabus content covers the requirement for teaching/training students in surgery for the MBBS of University of Benin and in accordance with regulations of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.

The course contents ensure that all aspects are covered, and all staff ace involved for all specialties and often overlap to ensure full coverage. In this regard extra tutorials and demonstrations are mounted and staff leave may be encroached on.

Regular continuous assessments are made with examinations, group assessments and clinical evaluations to ensure that the training is imparted and adequately absorbed. Students’ answers serve as good guide for evaluation of performances.

As with the policy of the university and the National Universities Commission (N UC) there is always involvement of External Professors from various universities in the country in the examination. They evaluate course contents, quality of examination questions and students’ answers to the various questions; participate in the final examinations in the Department including the conclusion and release of results.

As part of the Course of Surgery and especially in the Final Examination in Surgery for the M.B.,B.S. Degree other Departments affiliated are: Anaesthesiology, Orthopaedics, Ophthalmology, Radiology.

Administration and General Programme

Personnel Administration

The administrative and secretarial staffs of the Department are drawn from employees of the University of Benin and employees of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital.

The Head of Department of Surgery is appointed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin and is responsible to the Vice-chancellor through the Dean School of Medicine and the Provost College of Medical Sciences. He combines his duties as a Consultant Surgeon to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital with his academic duties as Professor of Surgery in the University of Benin. In addition, he performs administrative duties at high managerial level for the efficient day to day and overall smooth running of a large department whose commitments straddle the provision of high level surgical services in a Teaching Hospital setting and academic excellence in a university setting.

(a) There is an organization structure of the department.

(b) All matters of the department and involving individuals in relationship to departmental affairs/development are discussed in departmental meetings. When details are required committees are set up by staff to obtain authentic information and reaching decisions.

(c) Staff development is encouraged. There is free flow of information within the meager resources of journal and library facilities for research, scientific publication and participation in seminars, conferences and relevant workshops.

(d) Staff promotion follows the regulation of the university’s appointments and promotions.