Postgraduate Surgical Training: the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand’s Perspective

Abstract

During 1950–1960, well-trained Thai surgeons returned home after studying in the UK, Europe and the USA in great numbers. During 1960–1970, a shortage of working force occurred in the USA. Many Thai medical graduates left the country to seek work and training in America, as well as in the UK and Europe. To counteract the issue of brain leakage and to discourage future postgraduates from seeking further training abroad, a scheme of local graduate training was launched without much success. The formal postgraduate surgical training program in Thailand had been established by the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand with the approval by and under the supervision of the Thai Medical Council since 1975. The training programs cover all major surgical specialties and various subspecialties. The original training programs have been revised and updated on several occasions. The time period for training has been extended in all specialties from 3 years to 4 or 5 years to comply with the advances in surgery itself and the recent advancement in innovation and technology. The postgraduate surgical training programs have been very recently revised significantly to comply with the Postgraduate Medical Education WFME Global Standards for Quality Improvement: the 2015 Revision. It has been the determination of the Thai Medical Council and the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand to improve the surgical training programs up to international standards, to have well-qualified surgeons providing excellent surgical care in every part of the country. Since Thailand is turning into an aging society, more well-qualified doctors and surgeons will be needed to handle the more sophisticated and complex diseases commonly found in the elderly.