On Saturday 6th July RCSEd President, Prof. Mike Griffin, OBE will join Edinburgh Surgery Online students to celebrate their graduation. More than thirty graduates will be attending the ceremony, at McEwan Hall, having travelled from as far afield as Africa, Australia and Malta. Edinburgh Surgery Online offers a number of part-time online Masters courses, offered by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with RCSEd.
The Edinburgh Surgery Online team have highlighted the success of several students who will be joining in the celebrations.
Juana Kabba was originally a Garden Scholarship recipient on the MSc in Surgical Sciences (graduated in 2014) national of and resident in Sierra Leone. Juana went on to enrol on the ChM General Surgery, whilst also working full-time as a General Surgeon in Cameroon. Cameroon had been going through significant in-country fighting, which, understandably, affected Juana's participation on the course. Due to internet shutdown in the region, Juana had to travel eight hours (over 300 kilometres), to the nearest town to access the internet. This was done mostly at weekends because work commitments prevented Juana from leaving during the week. Further, the hospital in which they worked was relocated (on more than one occasion), as circumstances were too dangerous to stay. Understandably, the ongoing violence in and around the hospital where Juana worked affected him psychologically.
Added to these difficulties, the default of the students’ sponsor, the government of Sierra Leone, in paying their fees (due to sociopolitical conflict), led to his University of Edinburgh account being suspended for 5 weeks. This was at a crucial time during Juana's final year project, when he needed University access to online course resources. Thankfully, Professor James Garden, Director of Edinburgh Surgery Online, donated to ensure that Juana could continue with his studies.
Despite the extreme difficulties that Juana faced, he went on to achieve his goal of passing the ChM.
Also, as part of our partnership with RCSEd, our the top-performing students are awarded a medal, as follows:
Anthony Dimech graduating from the MSc in Surgical Sciences will be awarded the Lister medal at an RCSEd Diploma ceremony.
Fadi Ghazala graduating from the MSc in Primary Care Ophthalmology will be awarded the David Brewster medal at an RCSEd Diploma ceremony.