5 May 2017 – The Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with WHO organized a capacity development workshop for hospital managers in Sudan between 18 and 25 April 2017 aiming to provide hospital managers with an understanding of hospital management issues that will help them to improve service delivery and enhance their knowledge and skills to strengthen hospital performance and moving towards universal health coverage.
The Directorate General of Curative Medicine in Sudan aims to provide quality therapeutic and diagnostic services, to develop plans and regulations to govern work, and to monitor and evaluate and supervise technical and managerial performance in hospitals. Therefore, strengthening the leadership and management capacity of the hospitals is important and hospital managers must be continuously trained and made aware of up-to-date management skills and systems.
The training was designed and conducted following a training need assessment of hospital managers in Sudan which enabled organizers to design the course on the basis of managers’ needs. The training covered all important components of hospital care and management, including hospital governance; leadership; strategic thinking and planning; quality and patient safety; hospital financial management; human resources management and disaster management. The training was facilitated by WHO experts and targeted a total of 30 participants from the different States of Sudan composed of curative medicine directors, hospital managers, directors of specialized centers and staff members from the Federal Ministry of Health. In addition, a field visit to a hospital model in Sudan was conducted.
During the inauguration of the workshop, WHO Representative in Sudan Dr Naeema Al Gasseer indicated that the aim is to protect patients and provide quality services to patients that will reduce operational costs of health system. She emphasized the crucial need to shift towards a more cost effective vision and at the same time promoting engagement and partnerships.
The Undersecretary of the Federal Ministry of Health Dr Issam Abdallah pointed out that management is a very important issue because most of the health resources are managed and directed by managers. He emphasized the need to make sure that the resources are well utilized and in a cost effective manner. He also highlighted the important role hospitals play in communities as a leading organization, therefore making it necessary to enhance managerial skills of hospital leaders.
Each participant was requested to take an issue to improve in their own hospital as a project to report to both WHO and the Federal Ministry of Health during a one-day follow up workshop in September as outcome of their learning. A mentorship support will be provided for hospital managers during this period of time. By the end of the training, participants were able to gain extensive understanding of all the aspects of proper hospital management, they were made aware of the best hospital care and management practices in Sudan. Challenges and priorities were also identified to improve hospital care and management in Sudan.