SEHA's six teaching facilities granted ACGME-I accreditation

The Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) has announced that six of its teaching facilities have received Institutional accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education International LLC (ACGME-I). This grant of accreditation makes the UAE, represented by SEHA, the second country in the world outside of the US, to have its hospitals and residency programmes accredited by the ACGME-I.

The six facilities that received the accreditation included: SKMC (Sheikh Khalifa Medical City), Mafraq Hospital, Corniche Hospital, Tawam Hospital, Al Ain Hospital and AHS (Ambulatory Healthcare Service Company).

The accreditation was granted to SEHA after the health service company met a series of standards and requirements, and site visits were made by surveyors from the ACGME-I to these facilities to determine the extent of their compliance with the Council’s requirements.

Commenting on this achievement, H.E. Mr. Saif Bader Al-Qubaisi, Chairman, SEHA, highlighted the importance of this achievement, which aims at promoting the quality of services and medical care, provided by SEHA with special focus on improving patient safety and building trust within the local community.

“We look forward to making Abu Dhabi one of the world's most advanced healthcare cities, which have high and distinct levels in the quality of medical services, provided to their residents,” he said.

Al-Qubaisi added, “By receiving this accreditation, the residency training programmes at SEHA’s teaching centres and hospitals for trainee physicians and doctors become aligned with the training standards and global level of efficiency and quality of the programmes in the United States. This allows SEHA to produce UAE national doctors in higher numbers and with a high level of medical competence and skill at the same level enjoyed by their US peers.”

Dr. Maher Mohammad Abu Al-Hommos, Corporate Education and Research Manager, Corporate Clinical Affairs, SEHA, said that the Council was provided with all required information about SEHA’s hospitals and applied for data assessment and examination. Surveyors from the Council then visited SEHA’s facilities, followed by a series of interviews with the hospitals’ senior management, educational administration, directors of educational programmes, educational medical staff, and trainees of SEHA’s residency and speciality programmes. After this process, the Council granted accreditation to all SEHA’s teaching medical facilities.

Dr. Abu Al-Hommos pointed out that the ACGME-I adopts rigorous standards for granting such a world-class accreditation, noting that this accreditation has two phases that complement each other. The first phase is granting the facilities (SEHA’s hospitals) the institutional accreditation, while the second is to grant the residency programs the foundational and advanced specialty programmes accreditation.

In his comments, Dr. Ali Abdul Karim Al-Obaidli, Group Chief Clinical Affairs Officer, SEHA, said, “We will proceed to the next phase and seek accreditation for 17 training programmes in eight different specialties, namely: Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Paediatrics, General Surgery, Anaesthesia, Psychiatry, in addition to the accreditation of the first Transitional year.”

According to Mohammed Hamad Al-Hamli, Group Chief Support Services Officer, SEHA, “This shift is of high importance as it provides appropriate educational and training environment for trainee physicians and doctors to meet the needs of the health system in the UAE to prepare medical competencies.”

He said: “Receiving this ACGME-I institutional accreditation is the result of hard and meticulous work and continuous efforts shared between the medical and administrative staff at SEHA’s hospitals, which are committed to providing global premium medical services to Abu Dhabi’s people.”