BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh has awarded a Brunei medical consultant Dato Seri Laila Jasa Dr Mohammad Arif Abdullah with a fellowship, in recognition of his services to improve medical education in the sultanate.

Dato Dr Mohammad Arif, a consultant at Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha (RIPAS) Hospital’s Department of Internal Medicine, received the fellowship in a ceremony that took place on April 20 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in Scotland.

A press statement issued by the Ministry of Health yesterday said the medical consultant was awarded for his contributions in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh is an independent standard-setting body that helps qualified doctors pursue their careers in specialist (internal) medicine through medical examinations, education and training.

According to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’s website, the minimum criterion of the fellowship is that of having held a substantive consultant position or equivalent for 11 months.

The statement further said Dato Dr Mohammad Arif has also successfully carried out the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills in Brunei. His success meant that the examinations will take place at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) twice a year.

A key role for Dato Dr Mohammad Arif has been to plan and facilitate the development of the undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional development programmes, it added.

The medical consultant received the fellowship from Dr John Wilson, vice-president of Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Acute Medical Unit, led by Dr Mohammad Arif Abdullah, made a working visit to three hospitals in Edinburgh, including Scotland the Royal Hospital in Larbert, NHS Forth Valley; Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, NHS Lothian; and Victoria Hospital, NHS Fife.

The statement said the visit was to further study the Acute Medical Unit operations in the aforementioned hospitals, while learning the admissions procedures of the Emergency Unit as well as patient management at the hospital’s Acute Medical Unit.

It added that RIPAS Hospital hopes to learn and improve the services to be more efficient, effective and safe for patients in Brunei, while also strengthening capacity to conduct in-house training for doctors and nurses in the future.

The Brunei Times